ELIZABETH  •  ROBERTS  MACDONALD 


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in  memory  of 
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Our   Little   Canadian   Cousin 


THE 

Little  Cousin  Series 

(trade  mark) 

Each  volume  illustrated  with  six  or  more  full-page  plates  in 

tint.     Cloth,  i2mo,  with  decorative  cover, 

per  volume,  60  cents 

LIST   OF   TITLES 

By  Mary  Hazelton  Wade 

(unless  otherwise  indicated) 


Our  Little  African  Cousin 
Our  Little  Alaskan  Cousin 

By  Mary  F.  Nixon-Roulet 

Our  Little  Arabian  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  Armenian  Cousin 

By  Constance  F.  Curie  wis 
Our  Little  Australian  Cousin 
Our  Little  Brazilian  Cousin 

By  Mary  F.  Nixon-Roulet 

Our  Little  Brown  Cousin 
Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

By  Elizabeth  R.  MacDonald 

Our  Little  Chinese  Cousin 

By  Isaac  Taylor  Headland 

Our  Little  Cuban  Cousin 
Our  Little  Dutch  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  Egyptian  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  English  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  Eskimo  Cousin 
Our  Little  French  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  German  Cousin 
Our  Little  Greek  Cousin 

By  Mary  F.  Nixon-Roulet 


Our  Little  Hawaiian  Cousin 
Our  Little  Hindu  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  Indian  Cousin 
Our  Little  Irish  Cousin 
Our  Little  Italian  Cousin 
Our  Little  Japanese  Cousin 
Our  Little  Jewish  Cousin 
Our  Little  Korean  Cousin 

By  H.  Lee  M.  Pike 

Our  Little  Mexican  Cousin 

By  Edward  C.  Butler 

Our  Little  Norwegian  Cousin 
Our  Little  Panama  Cousin 

By  H.  Lee  M.  Pike 

Our  Little  Philippine  Cousin 
Our  Little  Porto  Rican  Cousin 
Our  Little  Russian  Cousin 
Our  Little  Scotch  Cousin 

By  Blanche  McManus 

Our  Little  Siamese  Cousin 
Our  Little  Spanish  Cousin 

By  Mary  F.  Nixon-Roulet 

Our  Little  Swedish  Cousin 

By  Claire  M.  Cobum 

Our  Little  Swiss  Cousin 
Our  Little   Turkish  Cousin 


L.  C.  PAGE    &    COMPANY 

New  England  Building,  Boston,  Mass. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/ourlittlecanadiaOOmacd 


"  TWO  CHILDREN  SAT  ON  THE  GRASS   UNDER  THE  LILACS 

(See  page  s) 


|        Our  Little  f 

I  Canadian  Cousin  I 

*  By  % 

ij*        Elizabeth  Roberts  MacDonald  *& 

*  * 

&  Illustrated  by  g* 

4*  L.  J.   Bridgman  4 

* * 

* * 

4^  Boston  ^ 

X  L.  C.   Page  &  Company  JT 

4*  Publishers  ^ 

^^4  4**  4*  4^  4^  4*  4*  4*  4^4*  4^ 


Copyright,  igo4 
By  L.  C.  Page  &  Company 

(incorporated) 


All  rights  reserved 


Published  July,  1904 
Fifth  Impression,  June,   1908 


Preface 

In  "  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin,"  my 
intention  has  been  to  tell,  in  a  general  way, 
although  with  a  defined  local  setting,  the  story 
of  Canadian  home  life.  To  Canadians,  home 
life  means  not  merely  sitting  at  a  huge  fire- 
place, or  brewing  and  baking  in  a  wide  country 
kitchen,  or  dancing  of  an  evening,  or  teaching, 
or  sewing ;  but  it  means  the  great  outdoor  life 
—  sleighing,  skating,  snow-shoeing,  hunting, 
canoeing,  and,  above  all,  "  camping  out "  — 
the  joys  that  belong  to  a  vast,  uncrowded 
country,  where  there  is  "  room  to  play." 

This  wide  and  beautiful  Canadian  Dominion 
possesses,  of  course,  a  great  variety  of  climate 
and  of  scenery.  To  treat  at  all  adequately  of 
those  things,  or  of  the  country's  picturesque 
and  romantic  history,  would  require  far  more 
scope  than  is  afforded  by  this  one  small  story. 


List    of   Illustrations 

PAGE 

"  TWO    CHILDREN    SAT    ON     THE    GRASS    UNDER    THE 

lilacs  "  {See  page  2)    .         .         .         .      Frontispiece 

Fredericton 22 

In  the  Government  House  Grounds  .        .        .28 
"  The  tree-clad  shores  wore  a  fairy  glamour  "    47 
"  A  great  bonfire  was  built  "     .        .        .         .64 
"  Nothing,  Dora  thought,  could  be  more  beau- 
tiful  THAN    THOSE    WOODS    IN    WINTER  "    .  .      99 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 


CHAPTER  I. 

It  was  the  very  first  day  of  the  loveliest 
month  in  the  year.  I  suppose  every  month 
has  its  defenders,  or,  at  least,  its  apologists,  but 
June  —  June  in  Canada  —  has  surely  no  need 
of  either.  And  this  particular  morning  was  of 
the  best  and  brightest.  The  garden  at  the 
back  of  Mr.  Merrithew's  house  was  sweet  with 
the  scent  of  newly  blossomed  lilacs,  and  the 
freshness  of  young  grass.  The  light  green  of 
the  elms  was  as  yet  undimmed  by  the  dust 
of  summer,  and  the  air  was  like  the  elixir  of 
life. 


2       Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

Two  children  sat  on  the  grass  under  the 
lilacs,  making  dandelion  chains  and  talking 
happily. 

Jack,  a  little  fair-haired  boy  of  six,  was  noted 
for  his  queer  speeches  and  quaint  ideas.  His 
sister  Marjorie  was  just  twice  his  age,  but 
they  were  closest  chums,  and  delighted  in 
building  all  sorts  of  air-castles  together.  This 
afternoon,  when  she  had  finished  a  chain  of 
marvellous  length,  she  leant  back  against  the 
lilac-trees  and  said,  with   a  sigh  of  happiness : 

"  Now,  Jack,  let's  make  plans  !  " 

"  All  right,"  Jack  answered,  solemnly. 
"  Let's  plan  about  going  to  Quebec  next 
winter." 

"  Oh,  Jackie !  Don't  let's  plan  about 
winter  on  the  first  day  of  June !  There's  all 
the  lovely,  lovely  summer  to  talk  about, —  and 
I  know  two  fine  things  that  are  going  to 
happen." 

"  All  right !  "  said  Jackie  again.     It  was  his 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin       3 

favourite  expression.  "  I  know  one  of  them  ; 
Daddy  told  me  this  morning.  It's  about 
Cousin  Dora  coming  to  stay  with  us." 

"Yes — isn't  it  good?  She's  coming  for  a 
whole  year,  while  uncle  and  aunt  go  out  to 
British  Columbia,  —  to  make  him  well,  you 
know." 

"  I  wish  she  was  a  little  boy,"  said  Jackie, 
thoughtfully.  "  But  if  she's  like  you,  she'll 
be  all  right,  Margie.  What's  the  other  nice 
thing  you  know?" 

"Oh,  you  must  try  to  guess,  dear!  Come 
up  in  the  summer-house ;  it's  so  cosy  there, 
and  I'll  give  you  three  guesses.  It's  some- 
thing that  will  happen  in  July  or  August, 
and  we  are  all  in  it,  father  and  mother  and  you 
and  Cousin  Dora,  and  a  few  other  people." 

They  strolled  up  to  the  vine-covered  sum- 
mer-house, and  settled  down  on  its  broad  seat, 
while  Jack  cudgelled  his  brains  for  an  idea  as 
to  a  possible  good  time. 


4       Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

"  Is  it  a  picnic  ?  "  he  asked  at  last. 

Marjorie  laughed. 

"  Oh,  ever  so  much  better  than  that,"  she 
cried. 

"  Try  again." 

"  Is  it  —  is  it  —  a  visit  to  the  seaside  ?  " 

"  No  ;  even  better  than  that." 

"  Is  it  a  pony  to  take  us  all  driving?  " 

"  No,  no.  That's  your  last  guess.  Shall  I 
tell  you  ?  " 

"  Ah,  yes,  please  do  !  " 

"  Well,  —  mother  says,  if  we  do  well  at 
school  till  the  holidays,  and  everything  turns 
out  right,  she  and  father  —  will  —  take  us 
camping  !  " 

"  Camping  ?  Camping  out  ?  Really  in 
tents?     Oh,  good,  good!" 

And  Jackie,  the  solemn,  was  moved  to  the 
extent  of  executing  a  little  dance  of  glee  on 
the  garden  path. 

"  Camping  out  "  is  a  favourite  way  of  spend- 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin       5 

ing  the  summer  holiday-time  among  Cana- 
dians. Many,  being  luxurious  in  their  tastes, 
build  tiny  houses  and  call  them  camps,  but 
the  true  and  only  genuine  "  camping  "  is  done 
under  canvas,  and  its  devotees  care  not  for 
other  kinds. 

As  our  little  New  Brunswickers  were  talk- 
ing of  all  its  possible  joys,  a  sweet  voice  called 
them  from  the  door  of  the  big  brick  house. 

"  Marjorie  !  Jack  !  Do  you  want  to  come 
for  a  walk  with  mother  ?  " 

There  was  no  hesitation  in  answering  this 
invitation.  The  children  rushed  pell-mell 
down  the  garden  path,  endangering  the  sway- 
ing buds  of  the  long-stemmed  lilies  on  either 
side. 

Mrs.  Merrithew  stood  waiting  for  them,  a 
tall,  plump  lady  in  gray,  with  quantities  of 
beautiful  brown  hair.  She  carried  a  small 
basket  and  trowel,  at  sight  of  which  the 
children  clapped  their  hands. 


6      Our  Little  Canadian   Cousin 

"Are  we  going  to  the  woods,  mother?" 
Marjorie  cried,  and  "  May  I  take  my  cart 
and  my  spade  ? "  asked  Jackie. 

"  Yes,  dearies,"  Mrs.  Merrithew  answered. 
"  We  have  three  hours  before  tea-time,  and 
Saturday  wouldn't  be  much  of  a  holiday  with- 
out the  woods.  Put  on  your  big  hats,  and 
Jack  can  bring  his  cart  and  spade,  and  Mar- 
jorie can  carry  the  cookies." 

"  Oh,  please  let  me  haul  the  cookies  in  my 
cart,"  said  Jack.  "  Gentlemen  shouldn't  let 
ladies  carry  things,  father  says,  —  but  Margie, 
you  may  carry  the  spade  if  you  want  some- 
thing in  your  hands  very  much  ! " 

"All  right,  boy,"  laughed  Marjorie.  "I 
certainly  do  like  something  in  my  hands,  and 
a  spade  will  look  much  more  ladylike  than  a 
cooky-bag !  " 

The  big  brick  house  from  which  Mrs. 
Merrithew  and  the  children  set  out  on  their 
walk   stood   on  one  of  the  back  streets  of  a 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin       7 

little  New  Brunswick  city,  —  a  very  small  but 
beautiful  city,  built  on  a  wooded  point  that 
juts  out  into  the  bright  waters  of  the  St.  John 
River.  Of  this  river  the  little  Canadian 
Cousins  are  justly  proud,  for,  from  its  source 
in  the  wilds  of  Quebec  to  its  outlet  on  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  it  is  indeed  "  a  thing  of 
beauty  and  a  joy  for  ever.'' 

Our  little  party  soon  left  the  streets,  went 
through  a  wide  green  space  covered  with 
venerable  maples,  crossed  a  tiny  stream  and  a 
railway  track,  and  entered  the  woods  that 
almost  covered  the  low  hill  behind  the  town. 
Though  it  was  really  but  one  hill,  the  various 
roads  that  subdivided  it  gave  it  various  names, 
some  derived  from  the  settlements  they  led  to, 
and  some  from  buildings  on  the  way.  It  was 
through  the  woods  of  "  College  Hill  "  that 
Marjorie  and  Jack  and  their  mother  wandered. 
Being  all  good  walkers,  they  were  soon  back 
of  the  fine  old  college,  which  stands  looking 


8        Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

gravely  out  over  the  tree-embowered  town  to 
the  broad  blue  river. 

When  the  delicious  green  and  amber 
shadows  of  the  woods  were  reached,  little 
Jack  at  once  began  to  search  for  fairies. 
Marjorie  contented  herself  with  looking  for 
wild  flowers,  and  Mrs.  Merrithew  sought  for 
ferns  young  enough  to  transplant  to  her 
garden. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  have  left  it  rather  late,"  she 
said  at  last.  "  They  are  all  rather  too  well- 
grown  to  stand  moving.  But  I  will  try  a  few 
of  the  smallest.  What  luck  have  my  chicks 
had  ?     Any  fairies,  Jackie  ?  " 

Jackie  lifted  a  flushed  face  from  its  inspec- 
tion of  a  tiny  hole  in  the  trunk  of  a  fir-tree. 

"  No  fairies  yet>  mother ;  but  I  think  one 
lives  in  here,  only  she  won't  come  out  while  I 
am  watching." 

Mrs.  Merrithew  smiled  sympathetically. 
She   heartily  agreed    with   the  writer  (though 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin       9 

she  could  not  remember  who  it  was)  who  said : 
"  I  always  expect  to  find  something  wonderful, 
unheard-of,  in  a  wood." 

"  In  olden  days/'  she  said, "  people  believed 
that  there  were  beautiful  wood-spirits,  called 
dryads,  who  had  their  homes  in  trees.  They 
were  larger  than  most  fairies,  and  yet  they  were 
a  kind  of  fairy." 

"  Please  tell  more  about  them,  mother," 
said  Marjorie,  coming  up  with  her  hands  full 
of  yellow,  speckled  adder's-tongue. 

"  I  know  very  little  more,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,"  their  mother  answered,  laughing.  "  Like 
Jackie  with  his  fairies,  I  have  always  hoped  to 
see  one,  but  never  have  as  yet." 

"Are  they  good  things  ?  "  Jackie  asked,  "  or 
would  they  frighten  little  boys  ?  " 

"  Oh,  my  dear,  they  were  always  said  to  be 
kind  and  beautiful,  and  rather  timid,  more  apt 
to  be  frightened  themselves  than  to  frighten 
any  one   else.     But  remember,  dears,  mother 


io     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

did  not  say  there  were  such  things,  but  only 
that  people  used  to  think  so." 

"  Please  tell  us  a  story  about  one,  mother," 
Jack  pleaded. 

But  Mrs.  Merrithew  shook  her  head. 

"  We  will  keep  the  story  for  some  other 
time,"  she  said.  "  Let  us  have  a  cooky  now, 
and  a  little  rest,  before  we  go  home." 

This  proposal  was  readily  agreed  to.  They 
chose  a  comfortable  spot  where  a  little  group 
of  white  birches  gave  them  backs  on  which  to 
lean,  opened  the  precious  bag,  and  were  soon 
well  occupied  with  its  crisp  and  toothsome 
contents.  Mrs.  Merrithew,  knowing  well  that 
little  folk  are  generally  troubled  with  a  won- 
derful thirst,  had  also  brought  a  cup  and  a 
bottle  of  lemonade.  How  doubly  delicious 
things  tasted  in  the  clear,  spicy  air  of  the 
woods ! 

By  the  time  Jack  had  disposed  of  his  sixth 
cooky  he  felt  ready  for  conversation, 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     1 1 

"  Mother,"  he  said,  "  I  wish  you  would  tell 
us  all  about  Dora." 

"  All  about  Dora,  dearie  ?  That  would  take 
a  long  time,  I  expect.  But  it  would  not  take 
long  to  tell  you  all  that  I  know  about  her.  I 
have  only  seen  her  twice,  and  on  one  of  those 
occasions  she  was  a  baby  a  month  old,  and  the 
next  time  only  two  years,  —  and  as  she  is  now, 
I  do  not  know  her  at  all." 

"But  —  oh,  you  know,  mother  —  tell  us 
about  her  father  and  mother,  and  her  home, 
and  everything  like  that.  It  makes  her  more 
interesting,"  urged  Marjorie. 

Mrs.  Merrithew  saw  that  she  was  to  be 
beguiled  into  a  story  in  any  case,  so  she  smiled 
and  resigned  herself  to  her  fate. 

"  Well,  my  dears,  I  know  a  great  many 
things  about  Dora's  father,  for  he  is  my  only 
brother,  and  we  were  together  almost  con- 
stantly until  we  were  both  grown  up.  Then 
your  Uncle  Archie,  who  had  studied  electrical 


12     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

engineering,  went  up  to  Montreal,  and  there 
secured  a  good  position.  He  had  only  been 
there  a  short  time  when  he  met  a  very  charm- 
ing young  lady  "  ("  This  sounds  quite  like  a 
book-story,"  Marjorie  here  interposed)  "  by 
whom  he  was  greatly  attracted.  She  was 
partly  French,  her  mother  having  been  a  lady 
of  old  French  family.  But  her  father  was  an 
English  officer,  of  the  strongest  English  feel- 
ings, so  this  charming  young  lady  (whose 
name  was  Denise  Allingham)  combined  the 
characteristics  —  at  least  all  the  best  character- 
istics —  of  both  races.  Do  you  know  what 
that  means,  Jackie  ?  " 

Jack  nodded,  thoughtfully. 

"  I  think  so,  mother.  I  think  it  means  that 
she  —  that  young  lady  —  had  all  the  nicenesses 
of  the  French  and  all  the  goodnesses  of  the 
English." 

"  That  is  just  it,  my  dear,  and  a  very  deli- 
cate distinction,  too,"  cried  his  mother,  clap- 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     13 

ping  her  hands  in  approval,  while  Jackie 
beamed  with  delight. 

"  Well,  to  continue :  Miss  Denise  Ailing- 
ham,  when  your  Uncle  Archie  met  her,  was  an 
orphan,  and  not  well  off.  She  was  teaching 
in  an  English  family,  and  not,  I  think,  very 
happy  in  her  work.  She  and  your  uncle  had 
only  known  each  other  about  a  year  when  they 
were  married. " 

"  And  lived  happily  ever  after  ? "  Mar- 
jorie  asked. 

Mrs.  Merrithew  considered  a  moment,  then  : 

"  Yes,  I  am  sure  I  can  say  so/'  she  answered. 
cc  They  have  had  some  business  troubles,  and 
a  good  deal  of  sickness,  but  still  they  have 
been  happy  through  it  all.  And  they  have 
one  dear  little  daughter,  whom  they  love 
devotedly,  and  who  is  named  '  Dora  Denise,' 
after  her  mother  and  — who  else  ?  " 

"  You,  mother,  you,"  both  children  ex- 
claimed. 


14     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

"  The  chief  trouble  this  happy  trio  has  had," 
Mrs.  Merrithew  continued,  "  has  been  the 
delicate  health  of  your  uncle.  For  the  last 
four  years  he  has  not  been  strong.  Twice 
they  have  all  three  gone  away  for  his  health, 
and  now  the  doctors  have  ordered  him  to  try 
the  delightful  climate  of  British  Columbia,  and 
to  spend  at  least  a  year  there  if  it  agrees  with 
him.  He  needs  all  his  wife's  attention  this 
time,  and  that,  my  dears,  is  why  little  Dora 
Denise  Carman  is  coming  to  spend  a  year  with 
her  New  Brunswick  relations. 

"  And  now,  chicks,  look  at  that  slanting, 
golden  light  through  the  trees.  That  means 
tea-time,  and  homeward-bound  !  " 


CHAPTER    II. 

It  was  a  tired  and  homesick  little  girl  that 
Mr.  Merrithew  helped  out  of  the  coach  and 
led  up  the  steps  of  his  house,  about  a  fortnight 
after  our  story  opens.  The  journey  from 
Montreal  had  been  long  and  lonely,  the  part- 
ing from  her  parents  hard,  and  the  thought  of 
meeting  the  unknown  relatives  had  weighed 
upon  her  mind  and  helped  to  make  her 
unusually  subdued.  But  when  the  door  of 
the  Big  Brick  House  (which  had  been  named 
by  the  neighbours  when  it  was  the  only  brick 
house  on  the  street,  and  the  largest  one  in 
town)  opened,  and  her  aunt's  motherly  arms 
closed    around     her,    while     Marjorie's    rosy, 

laughing  face  and  Jackie's  fair,  cherubic  one 

*5 


16     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

beamed  on  her  in  greeting,  her  spirits  began  to 
revive.  The  greeting  was  so  warm  and  kind, 
and  the  joy  at  her  coming  so  genuine,  that  her 
fatigue  seemed  turned,  as  by  magic,  to  a  pleas- 
ant restfulness,  and  her  homesickness  was  lost 
in  this  bright  home  atmosphere. 

Mrs.  Merrithew  took  the  little  newcomer  to 
her  room,  had  her  trunks  settled  conveniently, 
and  then  left  her  to  prepare  for  the  late  tea 
which  was  waiting  for  them  all.  When  Dora 
was  ready,  she  sat  down  in  the  little  armchair 
that  stood  near  a  table  piled  with  books,  and 
looked  about  her  contentedly. 

There  was  an  air  of  solid  comfort  and  cosi- 
ness about  this  house  that  rested  her.  This 
room  —  which  her  aunt  had  told  her  was  just 
opposite  Marjorie's  —  was  all  furnished  in  the 
softest  shades  of  brown  and  blue,  her  favourite 
colours.  The  carpet  was  brown,  with  a  very 
small  spray  of  blue  here  and  there ;  the  wall- 
paper was  lighter,  almost  creamy,  brown,  with 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     17 

a  dainty  harebell  pattern,  and  the  curtains  had 
a  rich  brown  background  with  various  Persian 
stripes,  in  which  blue  and  cream  and  gold 
predominated.  The  bed,  to  her  great  delight, 
had  a  top-piece,  and  a  canopy  of  blue-flowered 
chintz,  and  the  little  dressing-table  was  draped 
to  match  it.  Just  over  the  side  of  the  bed  was 
a  book-shelf,  quite  empty,  waiting  for  her 
favourite  books.  While  she  sat  and  looked 
about  in  admiration,  the  door  was  pushed 
gently  open,  and  a  plump  maltese  kitten  came 
in,  gazed  at  her  doubtfully  a  moment,  and 
then  climbed  on  her  lap.  Then  Marjorie's 
bright  face  appeared  at  the  door,  and,  "  May  I 
come  in  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  please  do,"  Dora  cried.  fC  Kitty  has 
made  friends  with  me  already,  and  I  think  that 
must  be  a  good  omen." 

Marjorie  laughed,  as  she  patted  the  little 
bunch  of  blue-gray  fur  in  Dora's  lap. 

"  Jackie  has  made  friends  with  you  already," 


1 8     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

she  said,  "and  I  think  that  is  a  better  omen 
still.  He  told  mother  he  thought  you  were 
'  the  beautifulest  girl  he  ever  saw.'  " 

Dora's  eyes  opened  wide  with  astonishment. 
"  It  is  the  first  time  I  ever  was  called  beauti- 
ful," she  said,  "  let  alone  c  beautifulest.'  What 
a  dear  boy  Jack  must  be." 

Then  they  both  laughed,  and  Marjorie,  obey- 
ing one  of  her  sudden  impulses,  threw  her 
arms  around  Dora's  neck  and  gave  her  a 
cousinly  hug.  "  You  and  I  will  be  friends, 
too,"  she  said.  "  I  knew  it  as  soon  as  I 
looked  at  you." 

Dora's  dark  brown  eyes  looked  gravely  into 
Marjorie's  blue  ones.  She  seemed  to  be  tak- 
ing the  proposition  very  seriously. 

"  I  have  always  wished  for  a  real  friend,  or  a 
twin  sister,"  she  said,  thoughtfully.  "  The  twin 
sister  is  an  impossibility,  and  I  have  never 
before  seen  a  girl  that  I  wanted  for  a  great, 
great  friend.     But  you,  —  ah,  yes  !     You  are 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     19 

like  my  father,  and  besides,  we  are  cousins,  and 
that  makes  us  understand  each  other.  Let  us 
be  friends." 

She  held  out  her  hand  with  a  little  gesture 
which  reminded  Marjorie  that  this  pale,  dark- 
haired  cousin  was  the  descendant  of  many 
French  grandes  dames.  She  clasped  the  slender 
hand  with  her  own  plump  fingers,  and  shook 
it  heartily.  So,  in  girlish  romance  and  sudden 
resolution,  the  little  maids  sealed  a  compact 
which  was  never  broken,  and  began  a  friendship 
which  lasted  and  grew  in  beauty  and  strength 
all  through  their  lives. 

At  the  breakfast-table  the  next  morning 
there  was  a  merry  discussion  as  to  what  should 
be  done  first  to  amuse  Dora.  Jackie,  who  had 
invited  her  to  sit  beside  him  and  beamed  at  her 
approvingly  over  his  porridge  and  cream,  sug- 
gested a  walk  to  his  favourite  candy-store  and 
the  purchase  of  some  sticks  of  "  pure  choco- 
late."     Marjorie    proposed    a  picnic    at    Old 


20     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

Government  House.  This  was  approved  of, 
but  postponed  for  a  day  or  two  to  allow  for 
preparations  and  invitations.  Mr.  Merrithew 
said  "  Let  us  go  shooting  bears,"  but  even 
Jackie  did  not  second  this  astounding  proposi- 
tion. As  usual,  it  was  "  mother  "  who  offered 
the  most  feasible  plan. 

"  Suppose,  this  morning/'  she  said,  "  you 
just  help  Dora  unpack,  and  make  her  thor- 
oughly at  home  in  the  house  and  garden  ;  then 
this  afternoon  perhaps  your  father  will  take 
you  for  a  walk,  and  show  Dora  the  house  where 
Mrs.  Ewing  lived,  and  any  other  interesting 
places.  That  would  do  for  to-day,  wouldn't 
it  ?  Then,  day  after  to-morrow  we  could  have 
the  picnic ;  and  for  the  next  week  I  have  a 
magnificent  idea,  but  I  want  to  talk  it  over 
with  your  father,"  and  she  nodded  and  smiled 
at  that  gentleman  in  a  way  which  made  him 
almost  as  curious  as  the  children. 

"  That's    the   way  with  mother,"   Marjorie 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     21 

said  to  Dora  after  breakfast.  "  She  never  ends 
things  up.  There  is  always  another  lovely  plan 
just  ahead,  no  matter  how  many  you  know 
about  already." 

And  Mr.  Merrithew,  who  overheard  the 
remark,  thought  that  perhaps  this  was  part  of 
the  secret  of  his  wife's  unfailing  youthfulness 
both  in  looks  and  spirits. 

The  walk  that  afternoon  was  one  which 
Dora  always  remembered.  Mr.  Merrithew 
had,  as  Jackie  said,  "  the  splendidest  way  of 
splaining  things,"  and  found  something  of 
interest  to  relate  about  almost  every  street 
of  the  little  city.  They  went  through  the 
beautiful  cathedral,  and  he  told  them  how  it 
had  been  built  through  the  earnest  efforts  of 
the  well-known  and  venerated  Bishop  Medley, 
who  was  afterward  Metropolitan  of  Canada. 
Then  they  wandered  down  the  street  along  the 
river,  and  saw  the  double  house  where  Mrs. 
Ewing  (whose  stories  are  loved  as  much  in  the 


22     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

United  States  and  in  Canada  as  they  are  in 
England)  lived  for  a  time,  and  where  she 
wrote. 

She  had  called  this  house  "  Rika  Dom," 
which  means  "  River  House/'  and  had  written 
in  many  of  her  letters  of  the  beautiful  river  on 
which  it  looked,  and  the  gnarled  old  willows 
on  the  bank  just  in  front  of  her  windows. 
These  willows  she  had  often  sketched,  and 
Dora  carried  away  a  spray  of  the  pale  gray- 
green  leaves,  in  memory  of  her  favourite  story- 
writer.  It  was  one  of  Dora's  ambitions,  kept 
secret  hitherto,  but  now  confided  to  Marjorie, 
to  write  stories  "  something  like  Mrs.  E  wing's." 

They  saw,  too,  the  picturesque  cottage  in 
which  a  certain  quaint  old  lady  had  attained 
to  the  ripe  age  of  a  hundred  and  six  years,  — 
a  record  of  which  Fredericton  was  justly 
proud.  This  venerable  dame  had  been  ad- 
dicted to  the  unlimited  eating  of  apples,  and  her 
motto  —  she  was  not  a  grammatical  old  lady ! 


FREDEKICTON 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     23 

—  had  been  (according  to  tradition),  "Apples 
never  hurts  nobody/' 

They  spent  some  time  in  the  Legislative 
Library,  where  was  enshrined  a  treasure  in  the 
shape  of  a  magnificent  copy  of  Audubon's 
Books  of  Birds.  Then  in  the  Departmental 
Buildings,  near  by,  there  was  a  small  but  well-ar- 
ranged museum  of  stuffed  birds  and  beasts,  all 
Canadian,  and  most  of  them  from  New  Bruns- 
wick. There  were  other  things,  too,  to  see, 
and  many  anecdotes  to  hear,  so  that  it  was  a 
somewhat  tired,  though  happy  and  hungry 
party  which  trudged  home  just  in  time  for  tea. 

And  such  a  tea,  suited  to  hearty  outdoor 
appetites  born  of  the  good  Canadian  air ! 
There  were  fresh  eggs,  made  into  a  white  and 
golden  omelette  by  Mrs.  Merrithew's  own 
hands ;  for  even  Debby,  who  had  cooked  for 
the  family  all  their  lives,  owned  that  an  omelette 
like  Mrs.  Merrithew's  she  could  not  manage, — 
"  No,  $zr}  not  if  I  was  to  cook  day  and  night." 


24     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

There  was  golden  honey  in  the  comb ;  there 
was  johnny-cake,  hot  and  yellow  and  melting 
in  your  mouth ;  strawberry  jam  that  tasted 
almost  as  good  as  the  fresh  fruit  itself;  ginger- 
cake,  dark  and  rich  and  spicy ;  milk  that  was 
almost  cream  for  the  children,  and  steaming 
fragrant  coffee  for  their  elders. 

"It  is  rather  nice  to  get  good  and  hungry" 
Jackie  gravely  observed,  —  "  that  is,  if  you 
have  plenty  in  the  house  to  eat.  I  think  life 
would  be  very  dull  without  meals." 

These  philosophical  remarks  rather  aston- 
ished Dora,  who  was  not  yet  accustomed  to 
the  contrast  between  Jack's  sage  reflections  and 
his  tender  years.  Just  now  they  seemed  es- 
pecially funny,  because  he  was  almost  falling 
asleep  while  he  talked.  When  Mrs.  Merrithew 
saw  him  nodding,  she  rang,  and  the  nurse  — 
who,  like  Debby,  was  a  family  institution  — 
came  in  and  carried  him  off  in  her  stalwart 
arms,   to    his   little    white    bed.      When    his 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     25 

mother  stole  up  a  little  later  to  give  him  a  final 
good-night  kiss,  she  heard  Susan  singing  and 
paused  at  the  door  to  listen.  "  Now  the  day 
is  over  "  was  ended,  and  then  a  drowsy  voice 
murmured  : 

"  Now,  Susan,  my  very  favourite  song  !  " 
And  then  Susan  sang,  in  her  soft,  crooning 
voice    "  The  maple-leaf,     the  maple-leaf,  the 
maple-leaf  for  ever ! " 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  day  of  the  picnic  was  hot,  very  hot,  for 
June,  but  that  did  not  discourage  the  younger 
picnickers  at  all. 

"It  will  be  pretty  warm  on  the  river,"  Mr. 
Merrithew  remarked,  tentatively,  as  they  sat  at 
dinner.  The  dining-room  windows  were  open, 
and  the  soft  air,  sweet  with  the  scent  of  lilacs, 
blew  the  white  curtains  into  the  room  with  lazy 
puffs. 

"It  will  be  so  lovely  when  we  get  to  Gov- 
ernment House,  though,"  Marjorie  cried. 
"  There  is  always  a  breeze  up  there,  father,  and 
there  are  plenty  of  trees,  and  three  summer- 
houses,  and  that  big  veranda.     Oh,   I   think 

it  will  be  perfect." 

26 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     27 

"  Yes,  Daddy,  I  do,  too !  I  think  it  will  be 
gorlious  !  "  said  Jackie. 

When,  after  much  hurrying  about,  telephon- 
ing to  tardy  members  of  the  party,  and  good- 
natured  discussion  as  to  the  arrangement  of  the 
canoe-loads,  they  were  at  last  afloat  on  the  blue, 
shining  river,  they  all  agreed  with  Jack.  Dora 
was  charmed  with  the  slender  Milicete  canoes. 
She  had  seen  chiefly  canvas  and  wooden  ones. 
Her  father,  indeed,  had  owned  a  bark  canoe, 
but  it  was  of  much  heavier  and  broader  build 
than  these  slim  beauties,  that  glided  through 
the  water  like  fairy  craft,  impelled  this  way  or 
that  by  the  slightest  turn  of  the  steersman's 
wrist. 

They  landed  just  back  of  Government 
House,  the  grounds  of  which  sloped  down  to 
the  water.  The  house  is  a  long,  stone  build- 
ing, with  a  broad  veranda  at  the  back,  and  in 
front  nearly  covered  with  Virginia  creeper.  At 
the  time  of  the  picnic    it  was  empty,  and  in 


28     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

charge  of  a  caretaker,  who  lived  in  a  small 
cottage  on  the  grounds.  When  a  suitable  spot 
had  been  chosen  for  tea,  and  the  baskets  piled 
close  by,  Mrs.  Merrithew  proposed  an  excur- 
sion through  the  house,  and  Mr.  Merrithew 
went  with  Jackie  to  procure  the  key.  When 
he  returned,  they  all  trooped  merrily  up  the 
front  steps,  and  soon  were  dispersed  through 
the  great  echoing  halls  and  lofty  rooms.  Most 
of  the  grown  people  of  the  party  had  danced 
here  at  many  a  stately  ball,  for  in  those  days 
Government  House  had  been  kept  up  in  the 
good  old-fashioned  way.  Marjorie  and  Jack 
delighted  in  hearing  their  mother  tell  of  her 
"  coming  out "  at  one  of  these  balls,  and  how 
she  had  been  so  proud  of  her  first  train  that 
she  had  danced  without  holding  it  up,  which 
must  have  been  trying  for  her  partners.  Dora 
was  greatly  interested  in  seeing  the  room  where 
King  Edward,  then  the  slim  young  Prince  of 
Wales,  had  slept,  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit 


IN    THE    GOVERNMENT    HOUSE    GROUNDS 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     29 

to  Fredericton.  When  the  furniture  of  Gov- 
ernment House  was  auctioned,  a  few  years  be- 
fore our  story  opens,  the  pieces  from  this 
room,  which  should  have  been  kept  together 
as  of  historic  interest,  were  scattered  about 
among  various  private  purchasers.  Mrs. 
Merrithew  described  them  to  Dora,  who 
wished  she  could  have  seen  the  great  bed,  so 
wide  that  it  was  almost  square,  with  its  canopy 
and  drapings  of  rich  crimson,  and  its  gilt 
"  Prince  of  Wales  feathers,"  and  heavy  gold 
cords  and  tassels. 

When  they  came  out  of  the  dim,  cool  house 
into  the  warm  air,  the  elders  looked  appre- 
hensively at  the  heavy  black  clouds  which  had 
gathered  in  the  west. 

"  That  looks  ominous,"  one  of  the  gentle- 
men said.  "  There  will  certainly  be  thunder 
before  night." 

Thunder  !  That  was  Marjorie's  horror  ! 
Her  round,  rosy  face  grew  pale,  and  she  clung 


30     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

tightly  to  her  mother's  arm.  The  men  and 
matrons  held  a  hurried  consultation,  and  de- 
cided that  the  storm  was  probably  not  very 
near,  and  that  it  would  be  safe  to  wait  for 
tea  if  they  hurried  things  a  little.  It  would 
be  a  terrible  disappointment  to  the  children 
(all,  at  least,  but  Marjorie !)  to  be  hurried 
away  without  "  the  picnic  part  of  the  picnic." 
So  they  all  bustled  about,  and  in  a  short  time 
the  cloth  was  spread,  and  well  covered  with 
good  things.  The  fire  behaved  well,  as  if 
knowing  the  need  of  haste,  and  the  coffee  was 
soon  made,  and  as  delicious  as  picnic  coffee, 
by  some  apparent  miracle,  generally  is.  By 
the  time  the  repast  was  over,  the  clouds  had 
drawn  closer,  the  air  was  more  sultry,  and  even 
the  most  optimistic  admitted  that  it  was  high 
time  to  start  for  home.  The  canoes  were 
quickly  loaded,  the  best  canoe-men  took  the 
paddles,  and  soon  they  were  darting  swiftly 
down-river,  running  a  race  with  the  clouds. 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     31 

In  spite  of  their  best  speed,  however,  the 
storm  broke  before  they  reached  their  journey's 
end.  The  thunder  growled  and  muttered,  a 
few  bright  flashes  lit  up  the  sultry  sky,  and  just 
as  they  landed  a  tremendous  peal  caused  the 
most  courageous  to  look  grave,  while  poor 
Marjorie  could  scarcely  breathe  from  terror. 
Then  the  rain  came,  and  the  pretty  muslin 
dresses  and  flower-trimmed  hats  looked  very 
dejected  before  their  wearers  were  safely 
housed  !  Still,  no  one  was  the  worse  for  that 
little  wetting,  Marjorie  recovered  from  her  fright 
as  soon  as  she  could  nestle  down  in  a  dark 
room  with  her  head  in  her  mother's  lap,  and 
they  all  agreed  with  Jackie  that  it  had  been 
"a  gorlious  time." 

Before  the  children  went  to  bed  Mrs.  Merri- 
thew  told  them  about  the  plan  which  she  had 
mentioned  two  days  before,  and  to  which  Mr. 
Merrithew  had  heartily  consented.  He  was  to 
take  a  whole  holiday,  on  Thursday  of  the  fol- 


32     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

lowing  week,  and  drive  them  all  up  to  the 
Indian  Village,  about  thirteen  miles  above 
town,  to  see  the  Corpus  Christi  celebrations. 

Corpus  Christi,  a  well-known  festival  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  is  one  which  has 
been  chosen  by  the  Indians  for  special  celebra- 
tion. As  it  comes  in  June,  and  that  is  such  a 
pleasant  time  for  little  excursions,  many  drive 
to  the  Indian  Village  from  Fredericton  and 
from  the  surrounding  country,  to  see  the  Mili- 
cetes  in  their  holiday  mood. 

The  day  being  fresh  and  lovely,  with  no 
clouds  but  tiny  white  ones  in  the  sky,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Merrithew  and  the  three  children  set  off 
early  on  Thursday  morning.  They  had  a 
roomy  two-seated  carriage,  and  two  big  brisk, 
white  horses,  plenty  of  wraps  and  umbrellas  in 
case  history  should  repeat  itself  with  another 
storm,  and  an  ample  basket  of  dainties.  The 
road,  winding  along  the  river-bank  most  of  the 
the  way,  was  excellent,  and  the  scenery  Dora 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     33 

thought  prettier  than  any  she  had  seen.  The 
river  was  smooth  as  a  mirror,  reflecting  every 
tree  and  bush  on  its  banks.  Little  islands, 
green  and  tree-crested,  were  scattered  all  along 
its  shining  length. 

It  was  almost  time  for  the  service  when  they 
reached  the  picturesque  little  village  which  went 
climbing  bravely  up  its  hill  to  the  chapel  and 
priest's  house  near  the  top.  The  horses  were 
taken  charge  of  by  a  sedate  young  half-breed, 
evidently  proud  of  his  office  as  the  "  priest's 
man,"  and  our  party  at  once  filed  into  the 
chapel.  A  plain  enough  little  structure  in 
itself,  to-day  it  was  beautiful  with  green 
boughs,  ferns,  and  flowers.  The  congregation 
consisted  chiefly  of  Indians  and  half-breeds, 
with  a  scattering  of  interested  visitors.  Most 
of  the  natives  were  clad  in  gorgeous  finery, 
some  of  the  older  ones  having  really  handsome 
beaded  suits  and  beautifully  worked  moccasins, 
while  others  were  grotesque  in  their  queer  com- 


34     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

bination  of  the  clothes  of  civilization  and  sav- 
agery. The  priest,  a  tall,  good-looking  man 
with  piercing  eyes,  sang  high  mass,  and  then  the 
procession  formed.  First  came  an  altar-boy 
carrying  a  cross,  then  six  boys  with  lighted 
tapers,  and  two  walking  backward  scattering 
boughs.  These  were  followed  by  the  priest 
bearing  the  host  and  sheltered  by  a  canopy 
which  four  altar-boys  carried.  These  boys 
were  all  Indians,  and  the  mild  well-featured 
Milicete  faces  had  lost  their  stolidity,  and  were 
lit  up  with  an  expression  of  half-mystic  adora- 
tion. After  them  came  the  congregation,  bare- 
headed, and  singing  as  they  walked.  Marjorie 
and  Dora  clasped  hands  as  they  followed,  their 
eyes  shining  with  excitement.  They  went 
down  the  road  and  entered  a  schoolhouse  not 
far  from  the  church,  where  the  host  was  placed 
in  a  little  tabernacle  of  green  boughs  while  the 
service  was  continued.  Then  the  procession 
re-formed  and  went  back  to  the  church. 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     35 

After  they  had  disbanded,  the  Indians  scat- 
tered to  their  houses  to  prepare  for  the  various 
other  events  of  the  day.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mer- 
rithew  and  the  children  were  carried  off  by  the 
priest  (whom  Mr.  Merrithew  knew  well)  to 
have  dinner  with  him  in  his  house  near  the 
chapel.  The  children  stood  a  little  in  awe  of 
him  at  first,  but  he  was  so  companionable  and 
kind  that  they  were  soon  quite  at  their  ease. 
His  mother,  who  kept  house  for  him,  was  evi- 
dently very  proud  of  her  son,  and  did  her  best 
to  entertain  his  visitors  worthily.  The  house 
was  rather  bare,  but  clean  as  wax  and  the  per- 
fection of  neatness,  while  the  repast,  spread  on 
the  whitest  of  linen,  was  excellent,  and  not 
without  some  rather  unusual  dainties,  —  such 
as  candied  fruits  of  many  colours  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  guava  jelly  brought  out  especially  in 
Mrs.  Merrithew's  honour. 

After  dinner  the  good  father  offered  to 
show  them  through  the  village,  and  they  set 


36     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

out  together  on  a  tour  of  inspection.  All  the 
full-grown  Indians,  the  priest  told  them,  were 
holding  a  pow-wow  in  the  schoolhouse,  for 
the  purpose  of  electing  a  chief.  "  There  is  no 
need  of  my  being  there  this  afternoon,"  he 
said,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Men-knew' s  inquiry ; 
"  but  this  evening,  when  they  have  their  feast 
and  their  games,  —  ah,  then  I  will  keep  my 
eye  on  them  !  " 

Evidently  this  priest  held  very  parental 
relations  toward  his  people.  The  visitors 
noticed  that  some  boys  playing  baseball  on 
the  green  eagerly  referred  their  disputes  to 
him  and  accepted  his  word  as  final.  He  took 
them  into  several  of  the  little  wooden  houses, 
all  of  which,  probably  in  honour  of  the  day, 
were  in  splendid  order.  In  one  they  found 
twin  papooses,  brown  as  autumn  beech- 
leaves,  sleeping  side  by  side  in  a  basket  of 
their  mother's  making.  In  another  a  wrinkled 
old  squaw  had  most  dainty  moccasins  to  sell, 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin    37 

the  Milicete  slipper-moccasins,  with  velvet  toe- 
pieces  beautifully  beaded.  Mr.  Merrithew 
bought  a  pair  for  each  of  his  party  (himself 
excepted),  letting  them  choose  their  own. 
Mrs.  Merrithew  promptly  selected  a  pair  with 
yellow  velvet  on  the  toes ;  Dora's  choice  had 
crimson,  and  Marjorie's  blue,  while  Jackie's 
tiny  pair  was  adorned  with  the  same  colour  as 
his  mother's. 

"  You  see,  mother  dear,"  he  said  quite  seri- 
ously, "  yours  are  a  little  larger,  so  we  won't 
be  mixing  them  up  !  " 

Then,  being  in  a  gift-making  mood,  Mr. 
Merrithew  bought  them  each  a  quaint  and 
pretty  basket,  besides  a  big  substantial  scrap- 
basket  for  his  own  study,  and  handkerchief- 
cases,  gorgeous  in  pink  and  green,  for  Susan 
and  Debby.  The  small  baskets  all  had  broad 
bands  of  the  fragrant  "  sweet  hay "  which 
grows  on  many  islands  of  the  St.  John,  but 
which  very  few  white  people  can  find.     Dora 


38     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

was  much  interested  in  the  Milicete  women, 
with  their  soft  voices  and  kind,  quiet  faces. 
She  tried  to  learn  some  of  their  words,  and 
won  their  hearts  by  singing  two  or  three  songs 
in  French,  a  language  which  they  all  under- 
stood, though  they  spoke  it  in  a  peculiar 
patois  of  their  own. 

The  bright  summer  afternoon  went  all  too 
quickly.  Mrs.  Merrithew  was  anxious  to 
reach  home  before  too  late  an  hour,  so  at  five 
o'clock,  after  tea  and  cakes,  they  "  reem- 
barked "  for  the  return  trip.  The  horses 
were  fresh,  the  roads  good,  the  children  just 
pleasantly  tired.  As  they  drove  on  and  on 
through  magic  sunset  light  and  fragrant  sum- 
mer dusk,  Dora  thought  drowsily  that  this 
was  a  day  she  would  always  remember,  even  if 
she  lived  to  be  as  old  as  the  dame  who  ate  the 
innumerable  apples. 

"  I  will  have  such  lovely  things  to  write  to 
father  and  mother  about/'  she  murmured,  in 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     39 

sleepy  tones,  —  and  those  were  the  last  words 
she  said  till  the  carriage  stopped  at  the  door 
of"  the  Big  Brick  House,"  and  she  and  Jackie 
were  tenderly  lifted  out  and  half  led,  half 
carried  up  the  steps.  Then  she  opened  her 
eyes  very  wide  and  looked  about  her  in 
wonder. 

"  Why,  I  believe  I  nearly  went  to  sleep  for 
a  moment,"  she  said. 

And  even  Jackie  woke  up  enough  to  laugh 
at  that ! 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  day  before  they  left  for  camp,  Dora 
received  a  letter  from  her  mother,  telling  some- 
thing of  their  surroundings  and  of  the  beauties 
of  the  Western  land.  As  the  others  were 
keenly  interested,  she  read  them  many  ex- 
tracts, which  even  Jackie  enjoyed. 

"  We    are    now,"   her    mother   wrote,    after 

describing  the  journey  by  the  great  Canadian 

Pacific   Railway,   and   speaking  encouragingly 

of  the  invalid's  condition,  "  comfortably  settled 

in  Victoria  —  which,  as  of  course  you  know, 

dear,  is  the  capital   city  of  British   Columbia. 

It  is  a  truly  beautiful  spot,   and  the  climate 

is    delightful.      There    are   great   varieties    of 

climate,  we    hear,   in    this   maritime    province 

40 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     41 

of  the  West ;  Victoria  is  supposed  to  enjoy 
a  very  mild  and  even  one,  with  roses  and 
geraniums  blooming  outdoors  in  December, 
and  the  cold  weather  confined  almost  entirely 
to  parts  of  January  and  February.  There  is 
another  delightful  part  of  the  country  which 
we  may  visit  later ;  it  is  in  one  of  the  valleys 
which  cut  across  the  Coast  Range  of  moun- 
tains. These  deep  valleys  are  entirely  shut 
off  from  the  north  winds,  and  freely  admit  the 
warm  breezes  from  the  coast,  while  the  rays  of 
the  sun  are  concentrated  on  their  steep  sides, 
helping  to  make,  at  times,  almost  tropical 
weather.  We  may  spend  part  of  next  winter 
there,  as  it  is  even  drier  than  Victoria,  and  that 
is  very  important  for  your  father.  Some  of 
our  new  acquaintances  have  recommended  the 
southern  part  of  Alberta,  where  the  winter  is 
shortened  and  made  almost  balmy  by  the  won- 
derful chinook  winds  —  so  named  from  the 
Chinook    Indians,   who    used    to  occupy   that 


42     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

part  of  the  country  from  which  they  blow. 
These  west  winds,  coming  from  the  mountains 
across  the  plains,  are  warm  and  particularly 
drying.  When  they  melt  the  light  and  infre- 
quent snowfalls  of  the  winter,  they  also  dry  the 
ground  almost  immediately,  so  that  even  the 
hollows  and  ravines  are  free  from  dampness. 
Your  father  is  greatly  interested  in  these 
i  warm  chinooks/  and  we  are  almost  sure  to 
try  their  effect  later.  Another  pleasure  to 
which  we  look  forward,  when  he  grows  a  little 
stronger,  is  a  trip  by  boat  along  the  coast. 
The  fiords  of  British  Columbia  are  said  to 
resemble  those  of  Norway,  and  the  whole 
coast,  with  its  wooded  shores,  snowy  moun- 
tain-peaks, and  flashing  cataracts,  is  marvel- 
lously beautiful." 

Dora  went  to  sleep  that  night  with  her 
mother's  letter  under  her  pillow,  and  dreamt 
that  they  were  camping  out  on  the  shore  of  a 
British  Columbian  fiord,  when  a  warm  wind 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     43 

came  and  blew  all  the  tents  into  little  boats,  in 
which  they  went  sailing  away  to  some  wonder- 
ful country,  where  no  one  would  ever  be  sick, 
and  where  no  winds  blew  but  balmy  west  ones. 
She  had  nearly  reached  the  land,  when  a  soft 
touch  woke  her,  and  she  found  Marjorie's 
happy  face  bending  over  her. 

"  Hurry  up,  dear  !  Hurrah  for  camp  !  We 
want  to  start  by  ten  at  the  latest,  and  it  is 
seven  now,  and  such  a  perfect  day.  Mother 
says  we  can  take  Kitty  with  us;  won't  that 
be  fun  ? " 

And  Marjorie  was  off  without  waiting 
for  an  answer.  Dora  heard  her  singing, 
laughing,  chatting,  as  she  flashed  here  and 
there,  helping  and  hindering  in  about  equal 
proportions. 

The  whole  house  was  filled  with  the  pleasant 
bustle  of  preparation.  Mr.  Merrithew  was 
as  much  of  a  boy,  in  the  matter  of  high  spirits, 
as  the  youngest  of  the  party.     Mrs.  Merrithew, 


44     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

blithe  and  serene,  had  everything  perfectly 
planned,  and  engineered  the  carrying  out  of 
the  plans  with  quiet  skill.  It  was  she  who 
remembered  where  everything  was,  thought  of 
everything  that  ought  to  be  taken,  and  saw 
that  every  one  of  the  party  was  properly  clad. 
The  party,  by  the  way,  was  quite  a  large  one, 
consisting  of  another  whole  family  (the  Greys) 
besides  the  Merrithews,  Will  Graham,  a  young 
collegian  who  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Merrithew's, 
and  Miss  Covert,  a  rather  delicate  and  very 
quiet  little  school-teacher  whom  Mrs.  Merri- 
thew  had  taken  under  her  wing  from  sheer 
kindness,  but  who  proved  a  charming  addition 
to  the  party.  The  Greys  were  six  in  number : 
Doctor  Grey,  a  grave  professor ;  Mrs.  Grey, 
a  tiny,  vivacious  brunette,  who  had  been  Mrs. 
Merrithew's  "  chum "  since  their  schoolgirl 
days ;  Carl  and  Hugh,  twin  boys  of  fourteen ; 
and  two  girls,  Edith,  just  Jackie's  age,  and 
Alice,  so  much  older  than  the  rest  that  she  was 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     45 

"  almost  grown-up/'  and  Marjorie  and  Dora 
looked  upon  her  with  admiring  awe. 

Doctor  Grey,  both  mammas,  Susan  (who  was 
to  do  the  cooking,  as  Debby  did  not  dare  ven- 
ture on  anything  so  wild  as  sleeping  out-of- 
doors),  Jackie,  little  Edith  Grey,  and  all  the 
provisions,  tents,  and  bedding,  were  to  go  by 
stage,  while  Mr.  Merrithew,  Will  Graham,  and 
the  twins  were  to  divide  the  charge  of  three 
canoes  and  the  four  girls. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  big  lumbering  stage  rat- 
tled up  to  the  door,  and  the  canoeists  saw  the 
others  properly  packed  and  waved  them  a 
cheerful  adieu.  Then  they  gathered  up  pad- 
dles, wraps,  and  lunch-baskets,  and  hastened 
gaily  off  to  the  boat-house  on  the  river-bank. 
Here  the  work  of  embarking  was  quickly 
accomplished,  and  the  four  slender  birches  shot 
out  into  the  stream,  turned,  and  swept  upward, 
propelled  against  the  current  by  vigorous  arms. 

"  Please  sing,  Daddy,"  Marjorie  begged,  and 


46     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

Mr.  Merrithew  promptly  began  an  old  favour- 
ite, but  could  get  no  further  than  the  first  verse. 

"  In  the  days  when  we  went  gypsying, 
A  long  time  ago, 
The  lads  and  lasses  in  their  best 
Were  dressed  from  top  to  toe  —  " 

So  far  he  sang,  and  then  declared  that  both 
memory  and  breath  had  given  out,  and  that- 
the  ladies,  who  had  no  work  to  do,  must  forth- 
with provide  the  music.  After  a  little  hes- 
itation and  some  coaxing  from  Marjorie,  Dora 
sang,  in  a  clear,  sweet  treble,  the  well-known 
and  much-loved  "  En  Roulant  ma  Boule " 
("  Rolling  My  Ball").  Then  some  one  started 
"  Tenting  on  the  Old  Camp  Ground,"  and 
all,  even  the  paddlers,  joined  in,  the  little 
school-teacher  providing  a  rich  alto  that  took 
them  all  by  surprise. 

The  river  was  deep-blue,  reflecting  the  lit- 
tle clouds  that  floated  in  the  azure  overhead. 
Near  the  town  the  river  was  very   broad ;  as 


"THE    TREE  -  CLAD    SHORES    WORE    A    FAIRY    GLAMOUR 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     47 

they  forged  upward,  it  gradually  narrowed, 
and  was  thickly  studded  with  islands.  They 
passed  Government  House,  left  the  ruined 
Hermitage  behind,  and  then  began  to  feel  that 
they  were  at  last  out  of  civilization,  and  near- 
ing  the  goal  of  summer  quiet  that  they  sought. 
It  was  slow  work,  this  paddling  against  the 
current,  but  the  time  went  in  a  sort  of  en- 
chanted way;  the  tree-clad  shores  wore  a  fairy 
glamour,  and  the  islands,  where  masses  of 
grape-vine  and  clematis  were  tangled  over  the 
bushes,  might  have  been  each  the  home  of  an 
enchanted  princess,  a  dryad,  or  any  of  the 
many  "  fair  forms  of  old  romance."  When 
about  five  miles  had  been  covered,  they  heard 
the  rush  of  water  hurrying  over  shallows  and 
nagging  at  the  rocks.  This  was  what  the  chil- 
dren delighted  to  call  "  The  Rapids,"  but  old 
canoemen  simply  dubbed  it  "  a  stretch  of 
swift  water."  But  by  whichever  name  it  went, 
it  called  for  strong  and  skilful  paddling,  and 


48     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

Mr.  Merrithew  proposed  that,  before  they 
undertook  it,  they  should  land  and  fortify 
themselves  with  lunch.  This  suggestion  met 
with  great  favour;  the  canoes  were  swiftly 
beached,  and  soon  a  merry  little  picnic  party  sat 
under  a  clump  of  gray  shore-willows,  while 
sandwiches,  tarts,  and  cakes  of  many  kinds, 
vanished  as  if  by  magic.  Success  to  the  camp 
was  drunk  in  lemonade  —  not  ice-cold  —  and 
speeches  were  made  that  proved  the  good 
spirits,  if  not  the  oratorical  gifts,  of  the 
group. 

They  rested  here  for  an  hour,  for  one  of 
the  camp  mottoes  was,  "  Time  was  made  for 
slaves,"  and  they  knew  that  the  ones  who  had 
gone  on  by  stage  were  resting  comfortably  in  a 
farmhouse,  just  opposite  their  destination,  till 
the  canoeing  party  should  come  to  ferry  them 
over.  The  farmhouse  was  owned  by  old 
friends  with  whom  Mrs.  Merrithew  and  Mrs. 
Grey  would  be  glad  to  spend  a  little  time,  and 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     49 

for  Jack  and  Edith  the  whole  place  would  be 
full  of  wonders. 

When  it  came  to  actually  facing  the  rapids, 
Dora's  heart  failed  her  ;  her  cheeks  paled,  and 
her  eyes  grew  very  large  and  dark  ;  but  she 
held  on  tight  to  both  sides  of  the  canoe,  fixed 
her  eyes  on  Marjorie's  back,  and  said  not  a 
word.  She  tried  hard  not  to  see  the  swirling 
water  and  the  scowling  rocks,  but  no  effort 
could  shut  out  the  confused  seething  noises 
that  made  her  feel  as  if  nothing  in  the  world 
was  stable  or  solid.  When  at  last  the  rush  was 
over,  the  sounds  grew  softer,  and  the  trium- 
phant canoemen  drew  their  good  craft  in  to 
shore,  and  paused  to  rest  their  tired  muscles, 
Dora  gave  a  deep  sigh  of  relief. 

Marjorie  turned  a  beaming  face  to  see  what 
ever  was  the  matter. 

"  Frightened,  dear  ?  "  she  said.  "  I  forgot 
that  you  have  not  had  much  canoeing.  It's 
too  bad." 


5<d     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

But  Dora  laughed,  and  the  colour  came 
back  to  her  face. 

"  I  ought  not  to  mind,"  she  said,  "  for  I 
have  shot  the  Lachine  Rapids.  But  I  think 
being  in  a  large  boat  gives  one  a  feeling  of 
safety.  I  know  I  wasn't  half  so  afraid  then  as 
I  was  to-day.  It  seemed  to  me  there  was 
nothing  between  me  and  the  dreadful  con- 
fusion." 

"  Shooting  the  Lachine  Rapids  is  a  great 
experience,"  Mr.  Merrithew  said.  "  I  must 
confess  I  would  not  like  to  try  those  in  a 
canoe,  as  Champlain  did !  But  now,  boys,  let 
us  set  off  briskly,  or  we  won't  get  things  com- 
fortable before  night." 

And  they  did  hurry,  but  for  all  their  speed 
it  was  nearly  dusk  by  the  time  the  five  white 
tents  were  pitched  on  Saunder's  Island.  This 
was  a  fairly  large  island,  ringed  by  a  sandy 
beach  from  which  the  ground  rose  steeply  to 
a  green  bank  on  which  elms,  white  birches,  and 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin    51 

maples  stood,  with  a  tangle  of  raspberry- 
bushes,  and  flowering  shrubs  among  them. 
Inside  the  belt  of  trees  was  a  broad  sweep  of 
rich  meadow-land,  with  here  and  there  a  row 
of  feathery  elms  or  a  cluster  of  choke-cherry- 
trees.  Toward  the  upper  end  of  the  island 
stood  an  old  stone  house,  empty  and  almost  a 
ruin ;  not  far  from  this  house  were  two  barns, 
kept  in  good  repair  for  the  storing  of  the  sweet 
island  hay. 

The  tents  were  pitched  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  house,  just  inside  the  tall  bor- 
dering trees,  so  that  part  of  the  day  they  would 
be  in  the  shade.  These  trees,  too,  would  make 
ideal  places  for  slinging  the  numerous  ham- 
mocks which  Mrs.  Merrithew  and  Mrs.  Grey 
had  brought. 

Dora  and  Marjorie  greatly  enjoyed  watching 
the  speed  with  which  the  tent-poles  ■ —  two 
stout  uprights  and  a  horizontal  ridge-pole  — 
were  got  into  position,  and  the  skill  with  which 


52     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

the  white  canvas  was  spread  over  them  and 
stretched  and  pegged  down  and  made  into  a 
cosy  shelter.  There  was  a  tiny  "  A  tent " 
tucked  away  in  the  shadiest  spot  for  the  pro- 
visions, and  a  large  tent  in  -a  central  position 
which  Mr.  Grey  named  "  Rainy-Day  House," 
and  which  was  to  be  used  as  dining-room  and 
parlour  in  case  of  severe  rains;  then  the  other 
three  were  called  respectively,  "  The  Chaper- 
ons' Tent,"  "The  Boys'  Tent,"  and  "The 
Girls'  Tent." 

The  chaperons'  abode  was  inhabited  by 
Mrs.  Merrithew,  Mrs.  Grey,  Susan,  Jackie, 
Edith,  and  the  kitten;  "The  Boys'  Tent" 
was  well  filled  by  Mr.  Merrithew  and  Doctor 
Grey  (who  insisted  on  being  boys  for  the 
occasion),  Will  Graham,  and  the  twins ;  and 
"The  Girls'  Tent"  sheltered  Miss  Kather- 
ine  Covert,  Alice  Grey,  Marjorie,  and  Dora. 
The  beds  were  of  hay,  liberally  provided  by 
the  friendly  farmer,  —  the  owner,  by  the  way, 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     53 

of  island,  house,  and  barns.  Under  each  bed 
was  spread  either  a  rubber  sheet  or  a  piece  of 
table  oilcloth,  then  over  the  hay  a  thick  gray 
blanket  was  laid.  There  was  another  thick 
blanket  to  wrap  around  each  person,  and  still 
another  to  put  over  him,  or  her,  as  the  case 
might  be.  In  the  chaperons'  tent  only  were 
they  more  luxurious ;  there,  two  large  mat- 
tresses took  the  place  of  the  hay,  and  made  a 
delightfully  comfortable  couch  for  three  grown- 
ups and  two  children. 

While  the  tents  and  beds  were  being 
attended  to,  Susan,  with  a  little  help  from 
Mrs.  Merrithew,  had  succeeded  in  getting  tea 
without  waiting  for  any  sort  of  a  fireplace  to 
be  constructed. 

She  was  rather  anxious  about  the  reception 
of  this  first  meal,  as  it  had  been  cooked  under 
difficulties.  But  when  she  saw  the  speed  with 
which  her  fried  beans  disappeared,  and  found 
Mrs.    Grey   taking    a    third    cup    of  tea,   her 


54     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

spirits  rose,  and  she  decided  that  campers  were 
thoroughly  satisfactory  people  for  whom  to 
cook ! 

After  tea  was  over,  and  all  the  dishes  were 
washed,  one  of  the  old  campers  proposed  the 
usual  big  bonfire,  whereby  to  sit  and  sing,  but 
every  one  was  too  sleepy,  and  it  was  unani- 
mously resolved  that  just  this  once  the  delight- 
ful evening  of  song  and  story  must  be  omitted. 
Hearty  "good-nights"  were  exchanged,  and 
soon  each  tent  for  a  brief  while  shone,  like  that 
in  the  "  Princess,"  "  lamp-lit  from  the  inner," 
—  to  be  more  absolutely  accurate,  lantern-lit; 
but  what  is  a  trifle  of  one  word,  that  it  should 
be  allowed  to  spoil  a  quotation  ? 

Then  gently,  sweetly,  silence  settled  down 
over  the  little  encampment;  silence,  save  for 
the  soft  murmur  of  the  river  in  its  sleep, 
and  sometimes  the  drowsy  chirping  of  a  bird 
among  the  branches. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Jack  was  the  first  to  wake  in  the  delicious 
stillness  of  the  morning.  When  his  mother 
opened  her  eyes  a  little  later,  she  found  him 
sitting  up  beside  her  with  a  look  of  delight  and 
wonder  on  his  face. 

"  The  river  talks  in  its  sleep,"  he  said,  lean- 
ing over  her  with  shining  eyes. 

"  What  does  it  say,  Jackie-boy  ? "  Mrs. 
Merrithew  asked. 

"I  don't  know  the  words,  —  yet, "  he 
answered,  "  but  I  will  some  day." 

"Yes,  I  believe  you  will,  dear,"  his  mother 
said,  with  a  smile  and  a  sigh,  for  she  firmly 
believed  that  her  boy,  with  his  vivid  imagina- 
tion and  quick  apprehension,  had  the  life  of 

a  poet  before  him. 

55 


56    Our  Little  Canadian   Cousin 

Just  then  a  shout  from  the  boys*  tent  pro- 
claimed that  the  twins  were  awake ;  then  Mr. 
Merrithew's  cheery  voice  was  heard,  and  soon 
the  camp  was  alive  with  greetings  and  laughter. 
Under  Mr.  Merrithew's  direction  (and  with 
his  active  assistance),  a  cooking-place  was  soon 
made,  and  a  bright  fire  inviting  to  preparations 
for  breakfast.  The  device  for  cooking  con- 
sisted of  two  strong  upright  sticks  with  forked 
tops,  and  a  heavy  horizontal  pole  resting  upon 
them.  On  this  pole  two  pothooks  were  fas- 
tened, from  which  hung  the  pot  and  kettle,  and 
the  fire  was  kindled  under  it.  Then  a  little 
circle  of  flat  stones  was  made  for  the  frying- 
pan,  the  pot  and  kettle  were  filled  with  fresh 
water,  and  Susan's  outfit  was  complete. 

Pending  the  erection  of  a  "  camp  wash- 
stand,"  and  the  choice  of  a  safe  and  suitable 
bathing-place,  faces  and  hands  were  washed  in 
the  river  amid  much  laughter,  and  with  careful 
balancing    on    stones    in    the    shallows.      The 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     57 

toilets  were  barely  completed  when  three  toots 
on  the  horn  announced  that  breakfast  was 
ready.  A  long  table  and  benches  were  among 
the  furniture  which  Doctor  Grey  and  Mr. 
Merrithew  had  planned  to  make ;  until  their 
construction,  they  were  glad  to  group  them- 
selves, picnic-fashion,  around  a  table-cloth  on 
the  ground.  The  way  that  breakfast  was  dis- 
posed of  showed  that  the  true  camp  appetites 
had  begun  already  to  assert  themselves.  Por- 
ridge and  molasses,  beans,  bacon  and  eggs,  and 
great  piles  of  brown  bread  and  butter,  vanished 
like  smoke.  Jackie  astonished  the  party  (and 
alarmed  his  mother)  by  quietly  disposing  of  a 
cup  of  strong  coffee,  passed  to  him  by  mistake, 
and  handing  it  back  to  be  refilled  with  the 
comment  that  it  was  "  much  more  satisfyinger 
than   milk." 

After  breakfast  they  all  set  to  work  with 
enthusiasm  to  make  camp  more  comfortable. 
Susan  washed   dishes   and   arranged    the   pro- 


58     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

vision  tent  with  housewifely  zeal ;  Mrs.  Mer- 
rithew  and  Mrs.  Grey  brought  the  blankets 
out,  and  spread  them  on  the  grass  to  air,  drove 
shingle-nails  far  up  on  the  tent-poles  to  hold 
watches,  pin-cushions,  and  innumerable  small 
but  necessary  articles,  and  superintended  the 
stretching  of  a  rope  from  one  pole  to  another, 
about  a  foot  from  the  ridge-pole.  This  last 
arrangement  proved  most  useful,  all  the  gar- 
ments not  in  use  being  hung  over  it,  so  that 
the  chaperons'  tent,  at  least,  was  kept  in  good 
order.  The  gentlemen  busied  themselves  in 
building  the  promised  table  and  seats.  Mr. 
Andrews  had  told  them  to  make  use  of  any- 
thing they  wanted  on  his  island,  so  the  twins 
had  hunted  about  till  they  discovered  a  pile 
of  boards  near  one  of  the  barns.  These  served 
admirably  for  the  necessary  furniture,  and  after 
that  was  finished  several  cosy  seats  were  made, 
by  degrees,  in  favourite  nooks  along  the  bank. 
The  morning  passed    with    almost    incredible 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin      59 

swiftness,  and  even  the  youngest  (and  hungri- 
est) of  the  campers  could  scarcely  believe  their 
ears  when  the  horn  blew  for  dinner. 

In  the  afternoon  some,  bearing  cushions  and 
shawls,  chose  shady  spots  for  a  read  and  a 
doze ;  some  set  off  in  the  canoes  for  a  lazy 
paddle ;  and  others  organized  themselves  into 
an  exploring  party  to  visit  the  deserted  house. 
Marjorie  and  Dora,  Miss  Covert,  and  Will 
Graham  formed  the  latter  group.  The  stone 
house  was  a  curious  structure,  with  an  air  of 
solidity  about  it  even  in  its  neglected  and  fail- 
ing condition.  It  had  been  built  many  years 
before  by  an  Englishman,  who  did  not  know 
the  river's  possibilities  in  the  way  of  spring 
freshets.  When  he  found  that  he  had  built 
his  house  too  near  the  shore,  and  that  April 
brought  water,  ice,  and  debris  of  many  sorts 
knocking  at  his  doors  and  battering  in  his 
windows,  he  promptly,  if  ruefully,  abandoned 
it  to  time  and  the  elements.     It  might,  long 


60     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

ago,  have  been  so  arranged  and  protected  as  to 
make  it  a  very  pleasant  summer  residence,  but, 
instead^  it  was  now  used  only  for  a  week  or 
two  in  haying-time,  when  the  haymakers  slept 
and  ate  in  its  basement, — for  this  quaint 
little  house  had  a  basement,  with  a  kitchen, 
dining-room,  and  storeroom.  Our  visitors, 
having  gained  entrance  to  the  hall  by  a 
very  ruinous  flight  of  steps  and  a  battered 
door,  descended  to  the  basement  first,  admired 
the  fireplace  in  the  kitchen,  and  looked  rather 
askance  at  the  deep  pile  of  straw  in  the  dining- 
room,  where  the  haymakers  had  slept.  There 
was  a  rough  table  in  one  corner  of  the  room, 
and  on  it  some  tin  cups  and  plates  and  a  piece 
of  very  dry  bread.  The  haying  on  the  island 
was  about  half-done  ;  there  was  a  short  inter- 
mission in  the  work  now,  but  it  was  to  begin 
again  very  soon. 

They  found  nothing  else  of  especial  interest 
in  the  basement,  so  went  to  the  hall  above. 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     61 

Here  were  two  good-sized  rooms,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  hall.  Each  had  a  fine,  deep  fire- 
place, and  in  one  were  two  old-fashioned 
wooden  armchairs  and  a  long  table.  The 
windows  —  two  in  each  room  —  were  narrow 
and  high,  and  had  small  panes  and  deep  win- 
dow-seats. 

"  Oh,  what  fun  it  would  be  to  play  keeping- 
house  here,  Dora  !  "  Marjorie  cried. 

"  Wouldn't  it !  "  Dora  answered.  "  Let  us, 
Marjorie !  Let  us  pretend  it  is  ours,  and 
choose  our  rooms,  and  furnish  it ! " 

"  That  will  be  fine,"  Marjorie  answered,  fer- 
vently, and  soon  the  little  girls  were  deep  in  a 
most  delightful  air-castle. 

"  Let  us  play,  too,"  said  Will,  persuasively, 
and  Katherine  answered  without  hesitation  : 

"  Yes,  let  us  !  I  feel  just  like  a  child  here, 
and  could  play  with  a  doll  if  I  had  one  !  " 

"  Well,  —  let  me  see  ;  we  will  begin  by  de- 
ciding about  the  rooms,"  said  Will.     "  Let  us 


62     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

have  this  for  the  study,  —  shall  we  ?  —  and  put 
the  books  all  along  this  wall  opposite  the  win- 
dows !  " 

And  so  these  two  "  children  of  a  larger 
growth "  played  house  with  almost  as  much 
zest  as  Marjorie  and  Dora,  —  and  greatly  to 
the  amusement  and  delight  of  the  latter  couple 
when  they  caught  a  word  or  two  of  their  mur- 
mured conversation.  Up-stairs  were  four  rather 
small  rooms  with  sloping  ceilings,  and  in  the 
middle  of  the  house,  just  over  the  front  door, 
a  dear  little  room  without  the  slope,  and  with 
a  dormer-window. 

"  This  shall  be  our  boudoir,"  Dora  said,  as 
they  entered,  and  then  stopped  and  exclaimed 
in  surprise,  for  against  one  wall  stood  a  piano  ! 
Almost  the  ghost  of  a  piano,  or  the  skeleton, 
rather,  —  at  the  very  best,  a  piano  in  the  last 
stage  of  decrepitude,  but  still  a  piano.  Its 
rosewood  frame  had  been  whittled,  chopped, 
and  generally  ill-treated,  and  more  than  half 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin    63 

its  yellow  keys  were  gone,  but  oh,  wonder 
of  wonders,  some  of  those  remaining  gave  a 
thin,  unearthly  sound  when  struck  !  It  seemed 
almost  like  something  alive  that  had  been  de- 
serted, and  the  little  group  gathered  around  it 
with  sympathetic  exclamations. 

While  they  were  talking  and  wondering 
about  it,  lively  voices  proclaimed  the  approach 
of  the  twins. 

"  We  won't  say  anything  about  our  house- 
keeping play,"  said  Dora,  hastily,  turning  to 
Mr.  Graham,  and  Marjorie  loyally  added, 
"  except  to  mother." 

"  All  right,  if  you  like^  the  student  agreed, 
and  Miss  Covert  quickly  added  her  assent. 
The  twins  admired  the  stone  house,  the  fire- 
places, and  the  piano,  but  with  rather  an  ab- 
stracted manner.  Soon  the  cause  of  their 
absent-mindedness  transpired.  Mr.  Merri- 
thew  had  met  some  Indians  that  afternoon, 
when  they  were  out  paddling,  and  had  bought 


64     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

a  salmon  from  them.  This  had  led  to  a  con- 
versation about  salmon-spearing,  and  the  In- 
dians had  promised  to  come  the  following 
night,  and  show  them  how  it  was  done.  They 
could  take  one  person  in  each  canoe,  and 
Mr.  Merrithew  had  said  that  Carl  and  Hugh 
should  be  the  ones.  Of  course  they  were 
greatly  excited  over  this  prospect,  and  chattered 
about  it  all  the  way  back  to  the  tents. 

That  evening,  when  dusk  had  settled  down, 
a  great  bonfire  was  built,  and  they  all  sat  around 
it  on  rugs  and  shawls,  in  genuine  camp- 
fashion.  First,  some  of  the  favourite  games 
were  played,  —  proverbs,  "coffee-pot,"  charac- 
ters, and  then  rigmarole,  most  fascinating  of 
all.  Rigmarole,  be  it  known,  is  r.  tale  told  "  from 
mouth  to  mouth,"  one  beginning  it  and  telling 
till  his  invention  begins  to  flag  or  he  thinks  his 
time  is  up,  then  stopping  suddenly  and  hand- 
ing it  on  to  his  next  neighbour.  The  result  is 
generally  a  very  funny,  and  sometimes  quite 


"  A    GREAT    BONFIRE    WAS    BUILT  " 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin    65 

exciting,  medley.  To-night  Mr.  Merrithew 
began  the  story,  and  his  contribution  (wherein 
figured  a  dragon,  an  enchanted  princess,  and  a 
deaf-and-dumb  knight)  was  so  absorbing  that 
there  was  a  general  protest  when  he  stopped. 
But  the  romancer  was  quite  relentless,  and  his 
next  neighbour  had  to  continue  as  best  he 
could.  Even  Jackie  contributed  some  startling 
incidents  to  the  narrative,  and  when  at  last 
Mrs.  Grey  ended  it  with  the  time-honoured 
(and  just  at  present,  most  unfortunately,  out-of- 
fashion !)  assurance  that  they  all,  even  the 
dragon,  "  lived  happy  ever  after,"  there  was  a 
burst  of  laughter  and  applause.  Then  some 
one  began  to  sing,  and  one  after  another  the 
dear  old  songs  rose  through  the  balmy  night. 
Sometimes  there  were  solos,  but  every  now  and 
then  a  chorus  in  which  all  could  join.  Dora 
sang  every  French  song  she  knew,  —  "A  la 
Claire  Fontaine"  ("  At  the  Clear  Fountain"), 
"  Malbrouck,"    and    "  Entre    Paris    et    Saint- 


66     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

Denis "  (<c  Between  Paris  and  St.  Denis ") 
proving  the  favourites.  Mrs.  Grey,  who  de- 
clared she  had  not  sung  for  years,  ventured  on 
"The  Canadian  Boat-Song"  and  "  Her  bright 
smile  haunts  me  still."  At  last,  when  voices 
began  to  grow  drowsy  and  the  fire  burned  low, 
they  sang,  "  The  Maple-Leaf  For  Ever  "  and 
"  Our  Own  Canadian  Home,"  then  rose 
and  joined  in  the  camp-hymn,  —  "For  ever 
with  the  Lord,"  with  its  : 

"  And  nightly  pitch  our  moving  tents 
A  day's  march  nearer  home." 

The  next  day  seemed  to  fly,  to  every  one,  at 
least,  but  Carl  and  Hugh.  Their  hearts  were 
so  set  on  the  salmon-spearing  that  for  them 
the  time  went  slowly  enough  till  night  brought 
the  four  Indians  with  their  torches  and  spears. 
Doctor  Grey  and  Mr.  Merrithew  walked  along 
the  shore  to  see  what  they  could  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, but  the  rest  —  and  even  Will  —  were 
content  to  sit  around  the  fire  as  before.     Carl 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin    67 

sat  in  the  middle  of  one  canoe,  and  Hugh  in 
the  other,  both  greatly  excited  and  both  trying 
to  think  themselves  quite  cool.  Only  the 
steersmen  paddled,  —  the  bowmen  kneeling 
erect  and  watchful,  with  their  spears  in  readi- 
ness. (The  salmon-spear  is  a  long  ash  shaft, 
with  two  wooden  prongs  and  a  metal  barb 
between  them.  The  spearing  of  salmon,  by 
the  way,  is  restricted  by  law  to  the  Indians, 
and  any  white  man  who  undertakes  it  is  liable 
to  a  fine.)  Sticking  up  in  the  bow  of  each 
canoe  was  a  torch,  made  of  a  roll  of  birch-bark 
fastened  in  the  end  of  a  split  stick.  The  red- 
gold  flare  of  these  torches  threw  a  crimson 
reflection  on  the  dark  water,  and  shone  on  the 
yellow  sides  of  the  birches,  and  the  intent, 
dusky  faces  of  the  fishermen  watching  for  their 
prey.  Slowly,  silently,  they  paddled  up  the 
stream,  till  at  last  the  silvery  sides  of  a  mag- 
nificent fish  gleamed  in  the  red  light.  Then, 
like  a  flash,  a  spear   struck   down,   there  was 


68     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

a  brief  struggle,  and  the  captive  lay  gasping 
in  the  foremost  canoe.  It  was  too  much  for 
Hugh.  He  had  enjoyed  with  all  his  boyish 
heart  the  beauty  and  the  weirdness  of  the 
scene,  but  the  beautiful  great  fish,  with  the 
spear-wound  in  his  back,  —  well,  that  was 
different.  He  was  not  sorry  that  the  Indians 
met  with  no  more  luck,  and  was  very  silent 
when  the  others  questioned  them,  on  their 
return,  as  to  the  joys  of  salmon-spearing. 
When  he  confided  to  Carl  his  hatred  of  the 
"  sport,"  the  latter  shook  his  head  doubtfully. 

"  But  you  will  help  eat  that  salmon  to- 
morrow," he  said. 

"Well,  —  perhaps,"  Hugh  answered,  cc  but, 
all  the  same,  it's  no  fun  to  see  things  killed, 
and   I'm  not  going  to  if  I   can  help  it!" 

The  fortnight  of  camp  life  passed  like  a 
dream,  and  it  is  hard  to  tell  who  was  most 
sorry  when  the  day  of  departure  came.  Dora, 
who  had  written  a  regular  diary-letter  to  her 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     69 

father  and  mother,  and  begun  one  of  the 
stories  that  were  to  be  like  Mrs.  Ewing's,  said 
that  never  in  all  her  life  had  she  had  such 
a  beautiful  time.  Katherine  Covert,  with  life- 
long friends  to  "  remember  camp  by,"  and  all 
sorts  of  happy  possibilities  in  her  once  gray 
life,  bore  the  same  testimony  with  more,  if 
more  quiet,  fervour.  Mr.  Merrithew  said  that 
he  was  ten  years  younger,  and  Jackie  opined 
that,  in  that  case,  they  must  have  been  living 
on  an  enchanted  island,  —  but  added,  that 
he  was  very  glad  he  had  not  been  made  ten 
years  younger,  like  Daddy ! 

Brown  and  plump  and  strong  of  arm,  the 
campers  brought  back  with  them  hearty  appe- 
tites, delightful  recollections,  and  inexhaustible 
material  for  dream  and  plan  and  castles  in  the 
air. 

Many  pleasant  things  were  waiting  to  be 
done  on  their  return  ;  first  and  foremost,  Miss 
Covert    had    come    to  live    at    the  Big   Brick 


yo     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

House,  to  teach  the  children  when  holiday 
time  should  be  over,  and  to  be  a  help  generally 
to  Mrs.  Merrithew.  Also,  according  to  Mrs. 
Merrithew's  plans,  to  have  a  little  real  home 
life  and  happiness,  —  for  Katherine  had  been  an 
orphan  since  her  childhood,  and  for  five  years 
had  taught  school  steadily,  although  it  was 
work  that  she  did  not  greatly  like,  and  that 
kept  her  in  a  state  of  perpetual  nervous  strain. 
Teaching  a  few  well-bred  and  considerate  chil- 
dren, whom  she  already  loved,  would  be  quite 
different,  and  almost  entirely  a  pleasure. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

In  the  delightful  autumn  days  that  followed, 
the  children,  accompanied  sometimes  by  Mrs. 
Merrithew,  sometimes  by  Katherine,  spent 
much  of  their  time  in  the  woods,  and  taking 
long  strolls  on  the  country  roads.  In  October 
the  woods  were  a  blaze  of  colour, —  clear  gold, 
scarlet,  crimson,  coppery  brown,  and  amber. 
The  children  brought  home  great  bunches  of 
the  brilliant  leases,  and  some  they  pressed  and 
varnished,  while  others  Katherine  dipped  in 
melted  wax.  They  found  that  the  latter  way 
was  the  best  for  keeping  the  colours,  but  it 
was  rather  troublesome  to  do.  They  pressed 
many  ferns,  also,  and,  when  the  frosts  became 
keener,  collected  numbers  of  white  ferns,  deli- 
cately lovely.      Most  of  these  treasures,  with 

71 


72     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

baskets  full  of  velvety  moss  and  yards  of 
fairy-like  wild  vines,  were  stowed  away  in  a 
cool  storeroom  to  be  used  later  in  the  Christ- 
mas decorations. 

When  the  last  of  October  drew  near,  Mrs. 
Merrithew  made  up  her  mind  to  give  a  little 
Hallow-eve  party.  She  let  the  children  name 
the  friends  they  wished  her  to  ask,  and  added 
a  few  of  her  own ;  then  they  all  busied  them- 
selves in  preparations,  and  in  making  lists  of 
Hallow-eve  games  and  tricks.  At  last  came 
the  eventful  evening,  and  with  it  about  thirty 
merry  people,  old  and  young,  but  chiefly 
young.  All  of  the  Greys  were  there,  of 
course;  also  Mr.  Will  Graham,  who  was  tak- 
ing his  last  year  at  college,  and  who  spent 
most  of  his  spare  time  at  Mr.  Merrithew's. 
So  the  whole  camping-party  met  again,  and 
the  camp-days,  dear  and  fleeting,  came  back  in 
vivid  pictures  to  their  minds. 

In  the  Big  Brick  House  was  a  large  room 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     73 

known  as  "  the  inner  kitchen,"  but  used  as 
a  kitchen  only  in  the  winter.  This  room 
Mrs.  Merrithew  had  given  up  to  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  Hallow-eve  party.  It  was 
lighted  —  chiefly,  that  is,  for  a  few  ordinary 
lamps  helped  out  the  illumination  —  by  lan- 
terns made  of  hollowed  pumpkins.  Ears  of 
corn  hung  around  the  mantel,  and  a  pyramid 
of  rosy  apples  was  piled  high  upon  it.  There 
was  a  great  old-fashioned  fireplace  here,  and 
a  merry  fire  sparkled  behind  the  gleaming 
brass  andirons.  Every  trick  that  their 
hostess's  brain  could  conjure  up  was  tried. 
Those  who  cared  to,  bobbed  for  apples  in 
a  tub  of  water,  and  some  were  lucky  enough 
to  find  five-cent  pieces  in  their  russets  and 
pippins.  An  apple  was  hung  on  a  string 
from  the  middle  of  a  doorway,  then  set  swing- 
ing, and  two  contestants  tried  which  could  get 
the  first  bite,  —  and  this  first  bite,  gentle 
reader,  is  not  so  easy  as  you  might  imagine ! 


74     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

A  pretty  little  ring  was  laid  on  a  mound  of 
flour,  and  whoever  could  lift  it  out  between 
their  lips,  without  breaking  down  the  mound, 
was  to  win  the  ring.  This  necessitated  a  great 
many  remouldings  of  the  flour,  —  but  finally 
the  prize  was  captured  by  Miss  Covert.  A 
little  later,  Dora  noticed  it  hanging  on  Mr. 
Graham's  watch-guard. 

Some  of  the  braver  spirits  took  turns  in 
walking  backward  down  the  garden  steps,  and 
to  the  end  of  the  middle  path,  a  looking-glass 
in  one  hand  and  a  lamp  in  the  other.  What 
each  one  saw  in  the  looking-glass,  or  whether, 
indeed,  they  saw  anything,  was,  in  most  cases, 
kept  a  secret,  or  confided  only  to  the  very 
especial  chum !  Then  there  were  fortunes 
told  by  means  of  cabbages,  —  a  vegetable  not 
usually  surrounded  with  romantic  associations. 
Marjorie  was  the  first  to  try  this  mode  of 
divination.  Well-blindfolded,  she  ventured 
alone   into  the  garden,  and  came  back  soon 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     75 

with  a  long,  lean,  straggly  cabbage  with  a  great 
deal  of  earth  attached  to  its  roots.  This  fore- 
told that  her  husband  would  be  tall  and  thin, 
and  very  rich  ! 

There  were  many  other  quaint  methods  of 
fortune-telling,  most  of  them  derived  from 
Scottish  sources.  After  these  had  been  tried, 
amid  much  merriment,  they  played  some  of 
the  old-fashioned  games  dear  to  children  every- 
where, —  blind-man's  buff,  hunt-the-feather, 
post-towns,  and  other  favourites.  By  and  by, 
when  the  fun  began  to  flag,  and  one  or  two 
little  mouths  were  seen  to  yawn,  a  long  table 
was  brought  in  and  soon  spread  with  a  hearty 
(but  judiciously  chosen)  Hallow-eve  supper. 

When  the  days  began  to  grow  short  and 
bleak,  and  the  evenings  long  and  cosey,  the 
children  were  thrown  more  and  more  upon 
indoor  occupations  for  their  entertainment.  It 
was  on  one  of  these  bleak  days,  when  a  few 
white  flakes  were  falling  in  a  half-hearted  way, 


76     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

and  the  sky  was  gray  and  gloomy,  that  Jackie 
had  a  brilliant  idea.  Four  of  them  —  Kather- 
ine,  Marjorie,  Dora,  and  Jackie  himself — were 
sitting  by  the  fire  in  Mrs.  Merrithew's  "  Den," 
the  very  cosiest  room  in  the  house.  Mr. 
Merrithew  had  a  den,  too,  but  he  called  his 
a  study.  Somehow  it  looked  too  much  like 
an  office  to  suit  the  children  very  well.  Most 
of  the  volumes  on  his  shelves,  too,  were 
clumsy  law-books ;  all  the  books  that  any  one 
wanted  to  read,  except  the  children's  own, 
were  in  "mother's  den."  Then,  one  could 
come  to  mother's  room  at  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  night,  while  sometimes  no  one,  excepting 
Mrs.  Merrithew,  was  admitted  to  the  study. 
On  this  particular  day  Katherine  was  reading 
"  Rob  Roy,"  and  Jack  building  a  castle  of 
blocks,  while  Dora  dreamed  in  the  win- 
dow-seat, watching  the  scanty  flakes,  and 
Marjorie,  on  the  hearth-rug,  tried  to  teach 
reluctant  Kitty  Grey  to  beg. 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     77 

Now  Jack  had  accompanied  his  mother  on 
the  previous  Sunday  to  the  anniversary  service 
of  the  Sons  of  England,  a  well-known  patriotic 
society.  He  had  been  greatly  impressed  by 
the  procession,  the  hymns,  and  the  sermon, 
and  on  coming  home  had  asked  his  father 
many  questions  as  to  the  "  why  and  wherefore  " 
of  the  society.  It  was  this  episode  which 
suggested  the  bright  idea  to  his  active  little 
brain. 

tc  Aunt  Kathie,"  he  said, —  for  Miss  Covert 
was  now  a  fully  accepted  adopted  aunt, — 
"why  couldn't  we  form  a  patriarchal  society ?" 

"  A  whaty  dear  ?  "  said  Kathie,  in  rather 
startled  tones,  laying  "  Rob  Roy "  on  the 
table,  for  she  liked  to  give  her  whole  mind  to 
Jackie's  propositions  and  queries. 

"  A  patri —  oh,  you  know  what ;  like  the 
Sons  of  England,  you  know  !" 

"  Oh,  yes  !  Patriotic^  dearie  ;  a  patriotic 
society.       You  know  a  patriot  is  one  who  loves 


78     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

his  country.  What  sort  of  a  patriotic  society- 
would  you  like  to  have,  Jack  ?" 

"  Oh,  pure  Canadian,  of  course  !  Let  me 
see, —  we  couldn't  be  the  Sons  of  Canada, 
because  we  are  not  all  sons." 

"  Not  quite  all,"  murmured  Dora,  with 
drowsy  sarcasm,  from  the  window. 

"  Why  not  Children  of  Canada  ?  "  suggested 
Kathie. 

"  No,  Aunt  Kathie,  that  would  never  do  at 
all,  for  mother  and  Daddy  and  you  must  be 
in  it,  and  you  couldn't  be  called  children,  — 
though,  of  course,  you're  not  so  very  old,"  he 
added,  as  if  fearing  he  had  hurt  her  feelings. 

"Well,  said  Marjorie,  thoughtfully,  "how 
would  The  Maple-leaves,  or  The  Beavers, 
do?" 

But  Jackie  scorned   this  suggestion. 

cc  Those  are  names  that  baseball  clubs  have," 
he  said.  "  No  ;  I  believe  £  The  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  Canada  '  would  be  the  best  of 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     79 

all,  because  everybody  is  either  a  son  or  a 
daughter,  even  twins  !  " 

This  statement,  and  the  name,  were  accepted 
with  acclamation,  and  the  quartette,  entering 
thoroughly  into  the  spirit  of  Jackie's  plan, 
helped  him  zealously  to  put  it  into  execution. 
They  insisted  that  he  should  be  president,  and 
requested  him  to  choose  the  other  officers. 
So  he  made  his  father  and  mother  the  honour- 
able patrons,  Dora  and  Marjorie  vice-presi- 
dents, and  Kathie  secretary-treasurer.  This 
office,  I  may  mention,  she  nobly  filled,  and 
also  the  informal  one  of  general  adviser,  sug- 
gester,  and  planner.  It  was  she  who  proposed 
the  twins,  Alice  and  Edith,  as  members,  and 
the  president  gave  his  consent,  though  he 
considered  Edith  rather  too  young ! 

"  For  my  part,"  he  said,  "  I  should  like  Mr. 
Will  Graham,  if  none  of  you  would  mind  !  " 
No  one  seemed  to  mind,  so  Mr.  Graham's 
name  was  added  to  the  list,  which  Katherine 


80     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

was  making  out  beautifully,  with  Gothic  capi- 
tals in  red  ink,  on  her  very  best  paper.  Her 
next  proposal  was  a  regular  course  of  study  in 
Canadian  history  and  literature,  and  this  was 
enthusiastically  received.  When  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Merrithew  came  home  at  tea-time,  they  found 
a  well-organized  "  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Can- 
ada "  club,  and  Miss  Covert  already  engaged 
in  composing  an  article  on  "  The  Beginnings 
of  Canadian  History/' —with  Jackie  in  her 
mind  as  an  important  member  of  her  future 
audience,  and  therefore  an  earnest  effort  to 
make  it  simple  in  language  and  clear  in  con- 
struction. 

All  through  the  winter  the  club  flourished, 
and  indeed  for  a  much  longer  time.  The 
members  met  every  week,  and  the  history  and 
literature  proved  so  absorbing  that  the  S.  A. 
D.  O.  C.  night  came  to  be  looked  forward  to 
as  eagerly  by  the  older  as  by  the  younger  sons 
and  daughters.     Kathie  had  the  gift  of  making 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin    81 

scenes  and  people  of  long-past  days  live  before 
one,  and  Carder  and  Champlain,  La  Salle  and 
De  Maisonneuve,  and  many  another  hero  be- 
came the  companions  of  our  patriotic  students, 
both  waking  and  in  their  dreams.  The  works 
of  Canadian  poets  and  novelists  began  to  fill 
their  book-shelves,  and  pictures  of  these  celeb- 
rities to  adorn  their  walls.  They  had  regular 
weekly  meetings,  at  which  there  were  readings 
and  recitations,  and  always  one  short  historical 
sketch.  Even  Jack  learnt  his  "  piece "  each 
time,  and  said  it  with  a  severe  gravity  which 
seemed  to  defy  any  one  to  smile  at  a  mispro- 
nunciation !  Mrs.  Merrithew  designed  their 
badges,  —  maple-leaf  pins  in  coloured  enamel, 
with  a  little  gilt  beaver  on  each  leaf,  —  and  Mr. 
Merrithew  had  them  made  in  Montreal.  But 
perhaps  the  proudest  achievement  of  the  club 
was  Alice  Grey's  "  Sons  and  Daughters  of 
Canada  March,"  which  was  played  at  the 
opening  and  closing  of  every   meeting. 


82     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

So  much  pleasure  and  profit,  many  happy 
evenings,  and  an  ever  deeper  love  for  their 
country,  were  some  of  the  results  of  Jackie's 
bright  idea. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Now  there  came,  warming  the  frosty  heart 
of  December,  that  delightful  atmosphere  of 
mystery  and  expectation  which  forms  one  pleas- 
ure of  the  great  Yule-tide  festival.  The  Big 
Brick  House  seemed  particularly  full  of  this 
happy  spirit  of  the  season.  There  were  many 
mysterious  shopping  excursions,  and  much 
whispering  in  corners,  —  a  thing  not  usual  in 
this  united  family.  Jackie  showed  a  sudden 
and  severe  self-denial  in  the  matter  of  sticks  of 
pure  chocolate,  and  was  soon,  therefore,  able  to 
proudly  flourish  a  purse  containing,  he  told  his 
mother,  "a  dollar  all  but  eighty-five  cents," 
saved  toward  buying  his  presents  for  the 
family.  He  also  spent  much  time  at  a  little 
table  in  his  own  room,  cutting  out  pictures  and 

83 


84     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

pasting  them  into  a  scrap-book  for  a  little  lame 
boy  of  his  acquaintance. 

Mrs.  Merrithew  and  Kathie  had  each,  be- 
sides innumerable  other  matters,  a  water-colour 
painting  on  hand.  Each  picture,  strange  to 
say,  was  of  a  house.  Mrs.  Merrithew's,  the 
Big  Brick  House  itself,  with  its  trees  and 
vines,  was  clearly  intended  for  Daddy ;  but 
for  whom,  the  children  wondered,  was  Aunt 
Kathie's  ?  It  was  a  spirited  little  view  of  the 
old  stone  house  on  Saunder's  Island  ;  not  so 
pretty  a  subject  as  Mrs.  Merrithew's,  but  set 
in  such  a  delicate  atmosphere  of  early  morning 
light  that  even  the  sombre  gray  of  the  stone 
seemed  etherialized  and  made  poetic.  While 
Marjorie  and  Dora  wondered  for  whom  it  was 
meant,  Jackie  promptly  inquired,  —  but  she, 
his  dear  Aunt  Kathie,  who  had  never  refused 
to  answer  question  of  his  before,  only  laughed 
and  shook  her  head,  and  said  that  every  one 
had  secrets  at  Christmas-time. 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     85 

Marjorie  and  Dora  did  not,  as  was  their 
wont,  spend  all  of  their  time  together,  for  each 
was  making  a  present  for  the  other.  Marjorie 
was  working  hard  over  a  portfolio,  which  she 
knew  was  one  of  the  things  Dora  wanted. 
She  had  carefully  constructed  and  joined  the 
stiff  cardboard  covers,  and  plentifully  provided 
them  with  blotting-paper,  and  now  she  was 
embroidering  the  linen  cover  with  autumnal 
maple-leaves  in  Dora's  favourite  colour,  a  rich, 
vivid  red.  As  for  Dora,  though  she  had  no 
love  for  needlework,  she  was  laboriously  mak- 
ing a  cushion  of  soft,  old-blue  felt  for  Mar- 
jorie's  cosey-corner,  working  it  with  a  griffin 
pattern  in  golden-brown  silks.  Marjorie  had 
a  particular  fancy  for  griffins,  —  partly,  per- 
haps, because  a  griffin  was  the  chief  feature  of 
the  family  crest. 

As  the  long-looked-for  day  drew  nearer, 
there  was  other  work  to  do,  almost  the  pleas- 
antest  Christmas  work  of  all,  Dora  thought,  — 


86     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

the  making  wreaths  out  of  fir  and  hemlock  and 
fragrant  spruce.  They  worked  two  or  three 
hours  of  each  day  at  the  decorations  for  the 
beautiful  little  parish  church  which  they  all 
attended,  and  which,  being  very  small,  was 
much  easier  than  the  cathedral  or  the  other 
large  churches  to  transform  into  a  sweet-smell- 
ing tabernacle  of  green.  Then  they  trimmed 
the  Big  Brick  House  almost  from  attic  to 
cellar.  The  drawing-rooms  were  hung  with 
heavy  wreaths,  with  bunches  of  red  cranberries 
here  and  there,  making  a  beautiful  contrast  to 
the  green.  In  the  other  rooms  there  were 
boughs  over  every  picture,  and  autumn  leaves, 
ferns,  and  dried  grasses  here  and  there.  Mr. 
Merrithew  was  sure  to  buy  some  holly  and 
mistletoe  at  the  florist's  on  Christmas  Eve,  so 
places  of  honour  were  reserved  for  these  two 
plants,  which  have  become  so  closely  entwined 
with  all  our  thoughts  of  Christmas  and  its 
festivities.     The    holly   would   adorn   the    old 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     87 

oil-painting  of  Mrs.  Merrithew's  great-aunt, 
Lady  Loveday  Gostwycke,  which  hung  over 
the  mantelpiece  in  the  front  drawing-room. 
As  for  the  pearly  white  berries  of  the  mistletoe, 
they  were  to  hang  from  the  chandelier  in  the 
hall,  where  people  might  be  expected  forgetfully 
to  pass  beneath  them.  Jackie,  who  was  very 
useful  in  breaking  twigs  for  the  wreath-making, 
begged  a  few  fine  wreaths  as  a  reward,  and 
carried  them  off  to  decorate  little  lame  Philip's 
room.  These  lengths  of  aromatic  greenery 
gave  the  greatest  pleasure  to  the  invalid,  and 
scarcely  less  to  his  mother,  who  spent  the 
greater  part  of  her  time  in  that  one  room. 

Besides  all  these  pleasant  doings,  there  were 
great  things  going  on  in  the  kitchen.  Such 
baking  and  steaming  and  frying  as  Debby 
revelled  in  !  Such  spicy  and  savoury  odours  as 
pervaded  the  house  when  the  kitchen  door  was 
opened  !  Marjorie  and  Dora  liked  to  help, 
whenever  Debby  would  let  them,  with  these 


88     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

proceedings.  It  was  great  fun  to  shred  citron 
and  turn  the  raisin-stoner,  and  help  chop  the 
mince-meat,  in  the  big  kitchen,  with  its  shining 
tins,  and  general  air  of  comfort.  Jackie  liked 
to  take  a  share  in  the  cooking,  too,  and 
as  he  was  Deborah's  pet,  he  generally  got 
the  wherewithal  to  make  a  tiny  cake  or 
pudding  of  his  own.  When  it  came  to  the 
making  of  the  big  plum  pudding,  all  the 
family  by  turns  had  to  stir  it,  according 
to  a  time-honoured  institution.  Then  Mr. 
Merrithew  would  make  his  expected  contribu- 
tion to  its  ingredients,  —  five  shining  five-cent 
pieces,  to  be  stirred  through  the  mixture  and 
left  to  form  an  element  of  special  interest  to 
the  children  at  the  Christmas  dinner.  Besides 
this  big  pudding,  there  were  always  three  or 
four  smaller  ones  (without  any  silver  plums, 
but  very  rich  and  good),  for  distribution  among 
some  of  Mrs.  Merrithew's  proteges. 

On  Christmas  day  all  the  old  customs  were 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     89 

faithfully  observed.  It  was  the  rule  that  who- 
ever woke  first  in  the  morning  should  call  the 
others,  and  on  this  occasion  it  was  Jackie  who, 
as  the  great  clock  in  the  hall  struck  six,  came 
running  from  room  to  room  in  his  moccasin 
slippers  and  little  blue  dressing-gown,  shout- 
ing "  Merry  Christmas,  Merry  Christmas,"  at 
the  top  of  his  voice. 

Every  one  tumbled  out  of  bed,  as  in  duty 
bound,  and  soon  a  wrappered  and  slippered 
group,  all  exchanging  Christmas  wishes,  met 
in  Mrs.  Merrithew's  den.  Here  a  fire  glowed 
in  the  grate,  and  here,  too,  mysterious  and 
delightful,  hung  a  long  row  of  very  fat  white 
pillow-cases  !  These  were  hung  by  long  cords 
from  hooks  on  the  curtain-pole.  Each  pillow- 
case bore  a  paper  with  the  name  of  its  owner 
written  on  it  in  large  letters,  and  they  were 
arranged  in  order  of  age,  from  Jackie  up  to 
Mr.  Merrithew.  This  had  been  the  invariable 
method   of  giving   the   Christmas  presents   in 


90     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

this   particular  family  for   as   long   as   any  of 
them  could  remember. 

Armchairs  and  sofas  were  drawn  near  the 
fire,  and  the  party  grouped  themselves  com- 
fortably ;  then  Mr.  Merrithew  lifted  down 
Jackie's  pillow-case  and  laid  it  beside  him,  as 
he  sat  with  his  mother  in  the  largest  of  the 
chairs.  Every  one  looked  on  with  intensest 
interest  while,  with  shining  eyes,  and  cheeks  red 
with  excitement,  he  opened  his  parcels,  and  ex- 
claimed over  their  contents.  Truly  a  fortu- 
nate little  boy  was  Jack !  There  were  books 
—  the  very  books  he  wanted,  —  games,  a  top, 
the  dearest  little  snow-shoes,  a  great  box  of 
blocks,  —  evidently  Santa  Claus  knew  what  a 
tireless  architect  this  small  boy  was,  —  a  bugle, 
drum,  and  sword,  a  dainty  cup  and  saucer,  a 
picture  for  his  room,  and,  too  large  for  the 
pillow-case,  but  carefully  propped  beneath  it, 
a  fine  sled,  all  painted  in  blue  and  gold  and 
crimson,  beautiful  to  behold ! 


Our  Little   Canadian   Cousin    91 

When  Jackie  had  looked  at  every  one  of  his 
presents,  it  was  Marjorie's  turn,  and  she  was 
just  as  fortunate  as  her  brother.  So  it  went 
on  up  the  scale,  till  they  had  all  enjoyed  their 
gifts  to  the  very  last  of  Mr.  Merrithew's,  and 
every  box  of  candy  had  been  sampled.  And 
still  Aunt  Kathie's  picture  of  the  little  stone 
house  had  not  appeared  ! 

When  at  last,  a  merry  party,  they  went 
down  to  breakfast,  Deborah  and  Susan  came 
forward  with  Christmas  greetings,  and  thanks 
for  the  well-filled  pillow-cases  which  they  had 
found  beside  their  beds.  The  dining-room  in 
its  festal  array  looked  even  cheerier  than  was 
its  wont.  By  every  plate  there  lay  a  spray  of 
holly,  to  be  worn  during  the  rest  of  the  day. 
The  breakfast-set  was  a  wonderful  one  of  blue 
and  gold,  an  heirloom,  which  was  only  used 
on  very  special  occasions.  In  the  centre  of 
the  table  stood  a  large  pot  of  white  and  purple 
hyacinths  in  full  bloom,  the  fourth  or  fifth  of 


g2    Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

Mr.  Merrithew's  presents  that  morning  to  his 
wife. 

At  eleven  o'clock  there  was  the  beautiful 
Christmas  service,  which  all  the  family  at- 
tended, with  the  exception  of  Jackie.  He  was 
considered  too  young  to  be  kept  still  for  so 
long  a  time ;  so  he  stayed  at  home  with  Susan, 
trying  all  the  new  toys  and  having  samples 
read  aloud  from  each  new  book.  Kitty  Grey, 
decorated  with  a  blue  ribbon  and  a  tiny  gilt 
bell,  also  kept  him  company,  and  seemed  to 
take  great  pleasure  in  knocking  his  block 
castles  down  with  her  soft  silvery  paws. 

When  the  churchgoers  returned  there  was 
lunch  ;  then,  for  the  children,  a  long,  cosey 
afternoon  with  their  presents.  Mrs.  Merri- 
thew  and  Katherine  early  disappeared  into  the 
regions  of  the  kitchen  and  dining-room,  for  the 
six  o'clock  dinner  was  to  have  several  guests, 
and  there  was  much  to  be  arranged  and  over- 
seen.    But  by  half-past  five  the  whole  family 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     93 

was  assembled  in  the  big  drawing-room,  and 
neither  Mrs.  Merrithew  nor  Kathie  looked  as 
if  they  had  ever  seen  the  inside  of  a  kitchen. 
Mrs.  Merrithew  wore  her  loveliest  gown,  a 
shimmering  silver-gray  silk  with  lace  sleeves 
and  fichu,  and  lilies-of-the-valley  at  her  neck 
and  in  her  abundant  hair.  As  for  Katherine, 
in  her  fawn-coloured  dress  with  trimmings  of 
yellow  beads,  and  deep  yellow  roses,  Jackie 
said  she  looked  like  a  fairy  lady,  —  and  on  the 
subject  of  fairies  he  was  an  authority.  The 
little  girls  were  in  pure  white,  with  sashes  of 
their  favourite  colours,  and  the  gold  and  coral 
necklaces  which  had  been  among  their  gifts  ; 
while  Jackie,  in  his  red  velvet  suit  and  broad 
lace  collar,  looked  not  unlike  the  picture  of 
Leonard  in  cc  The  Story  of  a  Short  Life." 

Presently  the  guests  began  to  arrive.  First 
came  Miss  Bell,  a  second  cousin  of  Mr.  Mer- 
rithew's,  and  the  nearest  relative  he  had  in 
Fredericton.      She   was   very    tall,  very    thin, 


94     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

quite  on  the  shady  side  of  fifty,  and  a  little 
deaf.  Nevertheless,  she  was  decidedly  hand- 
some, with  her  white  hair,  bright,  dark  eyes, 
and  beautifully  arched  brows.  She  was  a  great 
favourite  with  the  children,  and  always  carried 
some  little  surprise  for  them  in  her  pocket.  A 
little  later  came  a  widowed  aunt  of  Mrs.  Mer- 
rithew's,  fair,  fat,  and  frivolous  ;  and  a  bachelor 
uncle,  who  came  next  in  the  esteem  of  the 
children  to  Cousin  Sophia  Bell.  Two  young 
normal  school  students,  sisters,  who  were  not 
able  to  go  home  for  the  holidays,  soon  swelled 
the  party,  and  last,  but  not  least,  came  Mr. 
Will  Graham,  looking  very  handsome  in  his 
evening  clothes. 

When  they  went  out  to  dinner  Jackie 
escorted  Cousin  Sophia,  and  Marjorie  over- 
heard him  saying,  in  urgent  tones : 

"  I  wish  that  you  and  Uncle  Bob  would 
come  and  live  with  us,  —  but  I  dorit  want 
Aunt  Fairley  ;  she  is  too  funny  all  the  time  !  " 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     95 

The  Christmas  dinner  was  much  like  other 
Christmas  dinners,  except  that  Debby's  cook- 
ing was  unsurpassable.  After  every  one  had 
tasted  everything,  and  three  of  the  five-cent 
pieces  had  come  to  light,  the  chairs  were 
pushed  back  a  little,  and  while  nuts  and  raisins 
were  being  discussed,  they  had  also  catches, 
rounds,  and  choruses.  Each  person  with  any 
pretence  to  a  voice  was  expected  to  give  one 
solo  at  least.  Jackie,  who  had  a  very  sweet 
little  voice,  sang  "  God  Save  the  King," 
with  great  fervour.  But  the  favourite  of  the 
evening  was  the  beautiful  "  Under  the  Holly 
Bough,"  with  the  words  of  which  they  were  all 
familiar. 

Presently,  Jackie,  who  had  been  promised 
that  he  should  choose  his  own  bedtime  that 
night,  was  found  to  be  fast  asleep  with  his 
head  on  his  green-leaf  dessert  plate,  and  a 
bunch  of  raisins  clasped  tightly  in  one  hand. 
He  was  tenderly  carried  away,  undressed,  and 


96     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

tucked  into  bed,  without  once  opening  an  eye. 
As  Kathie  turned  to  leave  him,  she  picked  up 
one  of  his  best-beloved  new  books,  —  "  Off  to 
Fairyland,"  in  blue  and  gold  covers,  with 
daintily  coloured  pictures,  —  and  laid  it  beside 
him  for  a  pleasant  waking  sight  the  next  morn- 
ing. Down-stairs  she  found  the  rest  of  the 
party  gathered  around  the  fire,  telling  stories 
of  Auld  Lang  Syne.  As  almost  every  one 
had  been  up  early  that  morning,  no  very  lively 
games  seemed  to  appeal  to  them ;  but  the 
children  thought  no  game  could  be  so  interest- 
ing as  these  sprightly  anecdotes  and  rose-leaf- 
scented  romances  that  were  being  recalled  and 
recounted  to-night.  "Do  you  remember — " 
Cousin  Sophia  would  say ;  then  would  follow 
some  entrancing  memories,  to  which  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Merrithew,  Uncle  Bob,  and  Mrs.  Fairley 
would  contribute  a  running  comment  of  "  Yes, 
yes  !  she  was  a  lovely  girl ! "  "  He  never 
held  up  his  head  after  she  died  !  "  and  so  on. 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin     97 

Then  Mrs.  Fairley  would  hum  an  old-time 
waltz,  and  branch  off  into  reminiscences  of 
balls,  —  and  of  one  in  particular  at  Govern- 
ment House,  where  she  had  lost  her  satin 
slipper,  and  the  governor's  son  had  brought  it 
to  her,  and  called  her  Cinderella.  She  put  out 
a  satin-shod  foot  as  she  talked,  and  Marjorie 
thought  that,  though  it  certainly  was  tiny,  it 
was  not  at  all  a  pretty  shape,  and  began  to 
understand  why  her  mother  made  her  wear 
her  boots  so  loose. 

About  ten,  Susan  brought  tea  and  plum- 
cake,  and  when  this  had  been  disposed  of, 
they  all,  according  to  another  time-honoured 
custom,  gathered  around  the  piano,  and  sang 
the  grand  old  words  that  unnumbered  thou- 
sands of  voices  had  sung  that  day  : 

"  Oh,  come,  all  ye  faithful, 
Joyful  and  triumphant  ; 
Oh,  come  ye,  oh,  come  ye 
To  Bethlehem  ! 


98     Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 


Come  and  behold  him 
Born  the  King  of  angels; 
Oh,  come  let  us  adore  him, 
Christ  the  Lord!" 


NOTHING,  DORA     THOUGHT.  COULD    BE   MORE   RE 
THAN    THOSE    WOODS    IN    WINTER  " 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Snow -shoeing  is  one  of  the  national  sports 

of  Canada,  in  which  most  Canadians,  big  and 

little,  are  proficient.      Marjorie  and  her  cousin 

were    no    exception    to    the    rule,   and    Jackie 

proved  a  very  apt  pupil.     He  soon  learned  to 

avoid  striking  one  snow-shoe  against  the  other, 

and  fell   quickly   into   that   long,   easy   swing, 

which  makes  the  snowy  miles  go  by  so  quickly. 

Sometimes  the  three  children  tramped  on  the 

broad,  frozen  river,  but  that  was  a  cold  place 

when   there  was   any  wind,  so  they  generally 

chose  the  hill-roads  or  the  woods.     Nothing, 

Dora  thought,  could  be  more  beautiful  than 

those   woods   in  winter,  with   the  white  drifts 

around   the  grayish    tree-trunks,  the  firs   and 

hemlocks   rising   like  green   islands   out   of  a 
99 


ioo  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

snowy  sea,  and  the  wonderful  tracery  of  brown 
boughs  against  the  pale  blue  of  the  sky. 
Once,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Merrithew  went  with 
them  for  a  moonlight  tramp,  and  that  was 
something  never  to  be  forgotten. 

It  was  just  after  a  heavy  snowfall,  and  the 
evergreens  were  weighed  down  with  a  white 
covering  that  sparkled  and  glittered  as  with 
innumerable  jewels.  Another  favourite  amuse- 
ment was  coasting,  —  not  tobogganing,  but 
good,  old-fashioned  coasting,  generally  on  Col- 
lege Hill,  but  sometimes  down  the  steep  bank 
of  the  river.  Coasting  parties  were  frequent, 
and  it  was  a  pretty  sight  to  see  the  hill  dotted 
with  blanket-coated  and  toqued  or  tam-o'- 
shantered  figures,  and  pleasant  to  hear  the 
merry  voices  and  laughter  as  the  sleds 
skimmed    swiftly    down    the    road. 

The  winters  in  Eastern  Canada,  though 
cold,  are  wonderfully  bright  and  clear,  and 
the  air  is  so  free  from  dampness  that  one  does 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   101 

not  realize  how  cold  it  sometimes  becomes, 
unless  one  consults  the  thermometer.  Cana- 
dians, as  a  rule,  spend  a  great  deal  of  time  in 
the  open  air  in  winter  as  well  as  summer,  and 
are  as  hardy  a  race  as  can  be  found  anywhere, 
but  when  they  are  indoors  they  like  their 
houses  good  and  warm,  —  no  half-measures, 
no  chilly  passages  and  draughty  bedrooms  for 
them  ! 

Mr.  Merrithew  did  not  keep  horses,  but 
occasionally  he  would  hire  a  big  three-seated 
sleigh  and  take  the  family  for  a  delightful  spin. 
They  would  all  be  warmly  wrapped  in  wool- 
lens and  furs,  and  snuggled  in  buffalo-robes ; 
the  bells  would  jingle  merrily,  the  snow  would 
"  skreak "  under  the  horses'  feet,  and  the 
white  world  slip  by  them  like  a  dream. 

One  day,  about  the  middle  of  February, 
Mrs.  Merrithew  announced,  at  breakfast,  that 
it  was  high  time  for  the  drive  to  Hemlock 
Point,  which  Mr.  Merrithew  had  been  promis- 


102  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

ing  them  all  winter.  As  the  latter  quite  agreed 
with  this  idea,  they  decided  to  go  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  spend  a  long  day  with  the 
friends  they  always  visited  there,  and  return  by 
moonlight.  Hemlock  Point  was  somewhere 
between  ten  and  twenty  miles  up-river,  —  it 
does  not  always  do  to  be  too  exact,  —  and  their 
friends  lived  in  a  quaint  old  farmhouse,  on 
high  ground,  well  back  from  the  river-bank. 
That  evening,  when  they  sat  in  the  Den 
after  lessons  were  done,  Marjorie  told  Dora 
about  the  good  folk  who  lived  there,  —  an  old 
bachelor  farmer,  the  most  kind-hearted  and 
generous  of  men,  but  as  bashful  as  a  boy ;  his 
two  unmarried  sisters,  who  managed  his  house 
and  thought  they  managed  him,  but  really 
spoilt  him  to  his  heart's  content ;  and  an 
orphan  niece,  who  had  lived  with  them  for 
several  years,  and  who  was  the  only  modern 
element  in  their  lives.  She  graphically  de- 
scribed the  old  loom,  the  big  and  little  spin- 


bur  Little  Canadian  Cousin   103 

ning-wheels,  and  the  egg-shell  china,  till  Dora 
was  as  anxious  as  Jackie  for  to-morrow  to 
come. 

The  three-seated  sleigh  and  the  prancing 
horses  were  at  the  door  of  the  Big  Brick 
House  by  eight  the  next  morning,  for  the 
drive  would  be  long  and  the  load  heavy,  and 
it  was  well  to  be  early  on  the  way.  The  girls 
and  Jackie  wore  their  blanket-suits,  —  Dora's 
and  Jackie's  crimson  and  Marjorie's  bright 
blue,  —  and  Mrs.  Merrithew  herself,  snugly 
wrapped  in  furs,  brought  a  grand  supply  of 
extra  cloaks  and  shawls.  She  was  always  pre- 
pared for  any  emergency.  Mr.  Merrithew  said 
that  he  never  knew  her  fail  to  produce  pins, 
rope,  a  knife,  and  hammer  and  nails,  if  they 
were  needed.  But  the  hammer  and  nails  she 
repudiated,  and  said  it  was  twine,  not  rope, 
she  carried !  The  sky  was  a  little  overcast 
when  they  started,  but  the  prospect  of  a  snow- 
storm did  not  daunt  them  in  the  least. 


104  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

The  bells,  of  which  there  were  a  great  many 
on  the  harness,  kept  up  a  musical,  silvery  ac- 
companiment to  the  conversation,  as  the  horses 
swung  at  a  good  speed  along  the  level.  When 
the  hills  began  to  rise,  the  pace  slackened, 
and  the  passengers  had  a  better  chance  to 
enjoy  the  beauties  spread  on  both  sides  of 
the  road. 

"  But  oh,  you  ought  to  see  it  in  summer !  " 
Marjorie  said,  when  Dora  praised  the  varied 
and  lovely  landscapes.  "  There  are  so  many 
things  yet  for  you  to  see  all  around  here. 
You  will  have  to  stay  two  or  three  years  more 
at  least !  " 

But  Dora  laughed  at  this. 

"  What  about  all  the  things  there  are  for  you 
to  see  in  Montreal  ?  "  she  said.  "  What  about 
the  Ice  Palace,  and  —  " 

"  Please  tell  about  the  Ice  Palace,  Dora," 
Jack  interrupted.  "  That  must  be  a  gorlious 
sight !  " 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   105 

So  Dora  tried  to  give  her  cousins  some  idea 
of  the  great  palace  of  glittering  ice,  and  the 
hundreds  of  snow-shoers,  in  bright  costumes 
and  carrying  torches,  gathered  together  to 
storm  this  fairylike  fortress. 

"  It  must  be  fine,"  said  Marjorie,  when  the 
story  was  done,  "  but  I'd  rather  storm  Hem- 
lock Point,  and  get  fried  chicken  and  butter- 
milk as  the  spoils  of  war." 

Marjorie,  being  a  tremendous  home-girl, 
generally  tried  to  change  the  subject  if  Dora 
made  any  allusions  to  a  possible  visit  of  Mar- 
jorie alone  to  Montreal.  She  could  not  bear 
the  thought  of  parting  with  Dora,  but  to  part 
with  mother  and  Daddy  and  Jack  would  be 
three  times  worse ! 

The  last  part  of  the  road  was  decidedly 
hilly,  and  the  horses  took  such  advantage  of 
Mr.  Merrithew's  consideration  for  their  feel- 
ings, that  Jackie,  lulled  by  the  slow  motion 
and  the  sound  of  the  bells,  fell  asleep  against 


106  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

his  mother's  shoulder,  and  knew  no  more  till 
he  woke  on  a  couch  in  Miss  Grier's  sitting- 
room.  The  oldest  Miss  Grier  —  whom  every 
one  called  Miss  Prudence  —  was  bustling 
about,  helping  Marjorie  and  Dora  off  with 
their  things,  and  giving  advice  to  Miss  Alma, 
who  was  hastening  to  start  a  fire  in  the  great 
old-fashioned  Franklin.  Miss  Dean,  the  niece, 
was  taking  off  Mrs.  Merrithew's  overboots,  in 
spite  of  her  polite  protests.  Jackie's  eyes  were 
open  for  some  moments  before  any  one  noticed 
him ;  then  he  startled  them  by  saying,  in  per- 
fectly wide-awake  tones : 

"  I  think,  Miss  Lois  Dean,  you  are  the 
very  littlest  lady  in  the  world  !  " 

Miss  Dean,  who  certainly  could  not  well  be 
smaller  and  be  called  grown-up  at  all,  and 
whose  small  head  was  almost  weighted  down 
by  its  mass  of  light  hair,  looked  at  her  favour- 
ite with  twinkling  eyes. 

"  Never  mind,   Jackie,   the   best  goods  are 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   107 

often  done  up  in  small  parcels;  and  I'm  big 
enough  to  hold  you  on  my  lap  while  I  tell 
you  stories,  which  is  the  main  thing,  isn't  it  ?  " 

"Yes,  indeed,"  Jack  cried,  jumping  up  to 
hug  her,  which  resulted  in  the  pretty  hair  get- 
ting loosened  from  its  fastenings  and  tumbling 
in  wild  confusion  around  the  "  littlest  lady," 
where  she  sat  on  the  floor. 

"  Now  you  are  a  fairy  godmother !  Now 
you  are  a  fairy  godmother !  "  exclaimed  Jackie, 
dancing  around  her. 

"  Then  I  will  put  a  charm  upon  you  at 
once,"  Lois  said.  "  No  more  dancing,  no 
more  noise,  no  more  anything,  until  we  get  the 
wraps  all  off  and  put  away ;  then  you  and 
I  will  go  and  —  fry  chicken  —  and  sausages  — 
for  dinner  !  " 

The  last  part  of  the  sentence  was  whispered 
in  Jack's  ear,  and  caused  him  to  smile  con- 
tentedly, and  to  submit  without  a  murmur  to 
the  process  of  unwrapping. 


108  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

After  dinner,  —  which  did  great  credit  to 
Lois  and  her  assistant,  —  they  gathered  around 
the  Franklin  in  the  sitting-room,  with  plates 
of  "  sops-of-wine  "  and  golden  pippins  within 
easy  reach,  and  Mr.  Grier  and  Mr.  Merrithew 
talked  farming  and  politics,  while  Miss  Pru- 
dence recounted  any  episodes  of  interest  that 
had  taken  place  at  or  near  Hemlock  Point 
during  the  past  year. 

Mrs.  Merrithew,  who  had  spent  her  sum- 
mers here  as  a  girl,  knew  every  one  for  miles 
around,  and  loved  to  hear  the  annals  of  the 
neighbourhood,  told  in  Miss  Prudence's  pic- 
turesque way,  with  an  occasional  pithy  com- 
ment from   Miss  Alma. 

Dora  sat,  taking  in  with  eager  eyes  the  view 
of  hill  and  intervale,  island  and  ice-bound 
river  ;  then  turning  back  to  the  cosey  interior, 
with  its  home-made  carpet,  bright  curtains, 
and  large   bookcase  with  glass  doors. 

After  a  little  while  Lois,  who  saw  that  the 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   109 

children  were  growing  weary  of  sitting  still, 
proposed  a  stroll  through  the  house,  to  which 
they  gladly  consented.  Katherine  asked  if 
she  might  go  with  them,  and  they  left  "  the 
enchanted  circle  around  the  fire,"  and  crossed 
the  hall  to  the  "  best  parlour,"  — -  which  Miss 
Prudence  always  wished  to  throw  open  in 
Mrs.  Merrithew's  honour,  and  which  the  latter 
always  refused  to  sit  in,  because,  as  she  frankly 
said,  it  gave  her  the  shivers.  This  was  not 
on  account  of  any  ill-taste  in  the  furnishing, 
but  because  it  was  always  kept  dark  and  shut 
up,  and  Mrs.  Merrithew  said  it  could  not  be 
made  cheery  all  of  a  sudden.  The  children, 
however,  loved  the  long  room,  and  the  mys- 
terious feeling  it  gave  them  when  they  first 
went  in,  and  had  to  grope  their  way  to  the 
windows,  draw  back  the  curtains,  and  put  up 
the  yellow  Venetian  blinds,  letting  the  clear, 
wintry  light  into  this  shadowy  domain.  This 
light  brought  out  the  rich,  dark  colours  of  the 


no  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

carpet,  and  showed  the  treasures  of  chairs  and 
tables  that  would  have  made  a  collector's 
mouth  water.  There  was  a  round  table  of 
polished  mahogany  in  the  centre  of  the  room, 
a  tiny  butternut  sewing-table  in  one  corner, 
and  against  the  wall,  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
room,  two  rosewood  tables,  with  quaint  carved 
legs,  and  feet  of  shining  brass.  On  the  tables 
lay  many  curious  shells,  big  lumps  of  coral, 
and  rare,  many-coloured  seaweeds,  —  for  there 
had  been  a  sailor-uncle  in  the  family,  —  annu- 
als and  beauty-books  in  gorgeous  bindings, 
albums  through  which  the  children  looked 
with  never-failing  delight,  work-boxes  and 
portfolios  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl  ;  almost 
all  the  treasures  of  the  family,  in  fact,  laid 
away  here  in  state,  like  Jean  Ingelow's  dead 
year,  cc  shut  in  a  sacred  gloom.1' 

When  this  room  had  been  inspected  and 
admired,  they  lowered  the  blinds,  drew  the 
curtains,  and  left  it  again  to  its  solitude.     The 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   1 1 1 

rest  of  the  house  was  much  less  awe-inspiring, 
but  it  was  all  delightful.  The  loom,  now 
seldom  or  never  used,  stood  in  one  corner  of 
the  kitchen.  Not  far  away  was  the  big  spin- 
ning-wheel. Miss  Dean  tried  to  teach  them 
to  spin,  and  when  they  found  it  was  not  so 
easy  as  it  looked,  gave  them  a  specimen  of 
how  it  should  be  done  that  seemed  almost 
magical.  There  is,  indeed,  something  that 
suggests  magic  about  spinning,  —  the  rhythmi- 
cally stepping  figure,  the  whirling  brown  wheel, 
the  rolls  of  wool,  changed  by  a  perfectly  meas- 
ured twirl  and  pull  into  lengths  of  snow- 
white  yarn,  and  the  soothing,  drowsy  hum, 
the  most  restful  sound  that  labour  can  pro- 
duce. 

Then  there  was  the  up-stairs  to  visit.  The 
chief  thing  of  interest  there  was  the  tiny  flax- 
wheel  which  stood  in  the  upper  hall,  and  which 
certainly  looked,  as  Jack  said,  as  if  it  ought  to 
belong    to    a  fairy   godmother.      In    the  attic, 


112  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

great  bunches  of  herbs  hung  drying  from  the 
rafters,  and  the  air  was  sweet  with  the  scent 
of  them.  There  were  sage,  summer-savoury, 
sweet  marjoram,  sweet  basil,  mint,  and  many 
more,  with  names  as  fragrant  as  their  leaves. 
On  the  floor,  near  one  of  the  chimneys, 
was  spread  a  good  supply  of  butternuts, 
and  strings  of  dried  apples  stretched  from 
wall  to  wall  at  the  coolest  end  of  the  one  big 
room. 

"  If  I  lived  in  this  house/'  Dora  said,  "  I 
would  come  up  here  often  and  write,  —  try  to 
write,  I  mean  !  " 

"I  come  up  here  often  and  read,"  Miss 
Dean  said,  with  a  quick  glance  of  comprehen- 
sion at  the  little  girl's  eager  face.  "  I  love  it ! 
And  sometimes,  when  I  feel  another  way  and 
it's  not  too  cold,  I  put  up  one  blind  in  the  best 
parlour,  and  sit  in  there." 

C£  I  wish  you  were  coming  down  to  sit  in 
mother's    den,    and    read  —  and    talk  — and 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   113 

everything !  "  said  Marjorie,  and  the  others 
echoed  the  wish. 

"  So  I  am,  some  time  or  other,"  Lois 
answered.  "  Mrs.  Merrithew  has  asked  me, 
and  now  it's  just  a  question  of  how  soon  Aunt 
Prudence  can  spare  me.  That  may  be  next 
week,  —  or  it  may  be  next  winter  !  " 

"It  may  be  for  years  and  it  may  be  for 
ever/'  Dora  quoted,  laughing,  and  Jackie 
added,  cc  and  then  —  when  you  do  come  — 
we  will  make  you  a  Son  and  Daughter  of 
Canada  right  away  !  " 

The  search  for  the  egg-shell  china  took 
them  back  to  the  sitting-room,  where  Lois 
begged  Miss  Prudence  to  exhibit  this  most 
fragile  of  her  belongings.  With  natural  pride, 
that  lady  unlocked  a  china-closet,  and  brought 
out  specimens  of  the  beautiful  delicate  ware 
which  their  grandmother  had  brought  over 
with  her  from  Ireland,  and  of  which,  in  all 
these     years,    only     three    articles     had    been 


H4  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

broken.  It  certainly  was  exquisite  stuff,  deli- 
cately thin,  of  a  rich  cream-colour,  and  with 
gilt  lines  and  tiny  wreaths  of  pink  and  crimson 
roses. 

"  I  thought  we  would  have  them  out  for 
tea,"  Miss  Alma  suggested,  but  Mrs.  Merri- 
thew,  with  three  children,  all  rather  hasty  in 
their  movements,  to  look  after,  begged  her 
not  to  think  of  such  a  thing. 

u  Your  white  and  gold  china  is  pretty 
enough  for  any  one ; "  she  said,  cc  and,  my 
dear  Prudence,  if  you  are  determined  to  give 
us  tea  after  that  big  dinner,  we  will  have  to 
ask  for  it  soon,  or  we  will  be  spending  most 
of  the  night  on  the  road." 

"  Dear,  dear !  "  said  Miss  Prudence,  putting 
back  her  treasures  tenderly,  "  it  does  seem  as 
if  you'd  been  here  about  half  an  hour,  and  I 
do  hate  to  have  you  go  !  But  I  know  how  you 
feel  about  being  out  late  with  the  children, 
and  you  won't   stay  all  night.      Come   along, 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   115 

Alma,  let's  hustle  up  some  tea,  and  let  Lois 
talk  to  Mrs.  Merrithew  awhile." 

And  "  hustle "  they  certainly  did,  spread- 
ing a  board  that  groaned  with  the  good 
old-fashioned  dainties,  for  the  cooking  of 
which  Miss  Prudence  was  noted  through- 
out the  country.  Then  the  horses  were 
brought  to  the  door,  tossing  their  heads  in 
haste  to  be  off,  wraps  were  snugly  adjusted, 
good-byes  said  many  times,  and  they  were 
off. 

"  I  believe  Grier  has  given  these  horses 
nothing  but  oats  all  day,"  Mr.  Merrithew 
muttered,  as  the  pretty  beasts  strained  and 
tugged  in  their  anxiety  to  run  down-hill ;  but 
when  it  came  to  the  up-hill  stretches,  they 
soon  sobered  down,  and  were  content  with  a 
reasonable  pace.  Warm  and  cosey,  nestled 
against  his  mother,  Jackie  soon  slept  as  be- 
fore ;  but  the  others,  with  rather  a  reckless 
disregard  of  their  throats,  sang  song  after  song, 


Ii6  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

in  spite  of  the  frosty  air,  and  dashed  up  to  the 
door  of  the  Big  Brick  House,  at  last,  to  the 
sound  of: 

"  'Twas  from  Aunt  Dinah's  quilting  party 
I  was  seeing  Nellie  home." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

To  invalids,  or  to  the  really  destitute,  Cana- 
dian winters,  clear  and  bright  though  they  are, 
may  seem  unduly  long ;  but  for  our  little 
Canadian  Cousins,  warmly  clad,  warmly  housed, 
and  revelling  in  the  season's  healthful  sports, 
the  months  went  by  as  if  on  wings.  With 
March,  though  the  winds  were  strong,  the  sun 
began  to  show  his  power,  and  by  the  middle 
of  the  month  the  sap  was  running,  and  the 
maple-sugar-making  had  begun.  Jackie  per- 
suaded his  father  to  take  him  out  one  morning 
to  the  woods,  and  to  help  him  tap  a  number 
of  trees.  When  they  went  back  later  and 
collected  the  tin  cups  which  they  had  left 
under  the  holes  in  the  trees,  they  found  alto- 
gether about  a  pint  of  sap.  This  they  took 
117 


i  iS  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

carefully  home,  and  Jack  persuaded  every  one 
to  taste  it,  then  boiled  the  remainder  until  it 
thickened  a  little,  —  a  very  little,  it  is  true, — 
and  the  family  manfully  ate  it  with  their  muf- 
fins for  tea,  though  Mrs.  Merrithew  declared 
that  she  believed  they  had  tapped  any  tree 
they  came  across,  instead  of  keeping  to  sugar- 
maples. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  month  Mrs.  Grey 
got  up  a  driving-party  to  one  of  the  sugar- 
camps,  and  though  it  was  chiefly  for  grown 
people,  Mrs.  Merrithew  allowed  Dora  and 
Marjorie  to  go.  The  drive  was  long,  and 
rather  tiring,  as  the  roads  were  beginning  to 
get  "  slumpy,"  and  here  and  there  would  come 
a  place  where  the  runners  scraped  bare  ground. 
But  when  they  reached  the  camp  they  were 
given  a  hearty  welcome,  allowed  to  picnic  in 
the  camp-house,  and  treated  to  unlimited 
maple-syrup,  sugar,  and  candy. 

The  process  of  sugar-making  has  lost  much 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   119 

ef  its  picturesqueness,  since  the  more  conve- 
nient modern  methods  have  come  into  use. 
Mrs.  Grey  remembered  vividly  when  there 
were  no  camp-houses,  with  their  big  furnaces 
and  evaporating  pans,  and  no  little  metal 
<c  spiles "  to  conduct  the  sap  from  the  trees 
to  the  tins  beneath.  In  those  days  the  spiles, 
about  a  foot  in  length,  were  made  of  cedar, 
leading  to  wooden  troughs,  —  which,  she  main- 
tained, gave  the  juice  an  added  and  delicious 
flavour.  But  this  their  host  of  the  sugar- 
camp  would  not  admit,  though  he  agreed  with 
her  that  the  process  of  boiling  must  have  been 
much  more  interesting  to  watch  when  it  was 
done  in  big  cauldrons  hung  over  bonfires  in 
the  snowy  woods.  When  the  visitors  left 
camp,  each  one  carried  a  little  bark  dish  (called 
a  "  cosseau ")  of  maple-candy,  presented  by 
the  owner  of  the  camp,  and  most  of  them 
had  bought  quantities  of  the  delicious  fresh 
sugar. 


120  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

April  brought  soft  breezes,  warmer  sunshine 
and  melting  snow.  It  seemed  to  Dora  that 
people  thought  of  scarcely  anything  but  the 
condition  of  the  ice,  and  the  quantity  of  snow 
in  the  woods.  Then  they  began  to  say  that 
there  would  be  a  freshet,  and  Debby,  who  was 
apt  to  forebode  the  worst,  announced  that  the 
bridges  would  go  this  time,  sure  !  Mr.  Merri- 
thew  only  laughed  when  Marjorie  asked  him 
about  it,  and  said  that  this  prophecy  had  been 
made  every  year  since  the  bridges  were  built, 
and  that  there  was  no  more  danger  this  year 
than  any  other.  But  Mrs.  Merrithew,  though 
she  could  not  be  said  to  worry,  still  quietly 
decided  what  things  she  would  carry  with  her 
in  case  of  a  flight  to  the  hills  !  The  freshet 
which  was  talked  about  so  much  was,  in  spite 
of  Mr.  Merrithew's  laughter,  a  remote  possi- 
bility ;  certainly  not  a  probability.  In  his  own 
and  Mrs.  Merrithew's  youth,  it  had  been  so 
imminent  that  people  actually  had  gone  to  the 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   121 

hills.  A  tremendous  jam  had  been  formed  a 
few  miles  above  town  ;  but  a  few  days  of  hot 
sun  had  opened  the  river  farther  down,  and 
the  danger  had  passed.  Since  the  two  bridges, 
however,  had  been  built,  some  people  thought 
that  there  was  a  chance  of  the  ice  jamming 
above  the  upper  bridge.  Usually  the  worst 
jams  were  between  the  islands,  not  far  above 
town. 

Each  day  some  fresh  word  was  brought  in 
as  to  the  river's  condition.  "  The  River  St. 
John  is  like  a  sick  person,  isn't  it?"  Dora 
said  one  afternoon.  "  The  first  thing  every 
one  says  in  the  morning  is,  ( I  wonder  how 
the  river  is  to-day.'  " 

The  words  were  scarcely  out  of  her  mouth 
when  Mr.  Merrithew  came  in  hastily,  calling 
out : 

"  Come,  people,  if  you  want  to  see  the  ice 
go  out.  The  jam  by  Vine  Island  is  broken. 
Come  quick.     It's  piling  up  finely  !  " 


122  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

In  a  very  few  minutes  the  whole  family 
answered  to  his  summons,  and  they  set  out  in 
great  excitement  to  watch  their  dear  river  shake 
off  its  fetters.  They  made  their  way  quickly 
to  the  wooden  bridge,  and  found  a  good  share 
of  the  population  of  Fredericton  there  assem- 
bled. It  was  truly  a  sight  well  worth  going 
to  see.  Below  the  bridge  the  dark  water  was 
running  swiftly,  bearing  blocks  of  ice,  bits  of 
board,  and  logs,  —  indeed,  a  fine  medley 
of  things.  But  above  the  bridge  !  Jackie 
clapped  his  hands  with  delight,  as  he  watched 
the  ice,  pushed  by  the  masses  behind  it,  throw 
itself  against  the  mighty  stone  piers,  and  break 
and  fall  back,  while  the  bridge  quivered  afresh 
at  each  onslaught.  It  was  truly  grand  to  see, 
and  they  stayed  watching  it  for  more  than  an 
hour ;  stayed  till  Jackie  began  to  shiver,  and 
Mrs.   Merrithew  hurried  them  home. 

By  the  next  morning  the  river  was  rapidly 
clearing,  so  that  some  reckless  spirits  ventured 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   123 

to  cross  in  boats  and  canoes,  dodging  the  ice- 
cakes  with  skill  worthy  to  be  employed  in 
a  better  cause.  In  a  day  or  two  more  the 
deep  whistle  of  the  river-boat  was  heard ;  a 
sound  that  brings  summer  near,  though  not 
a  leaf  be  on  the  trees.  But  it  was  not  until 
the  ice  had  entirely  ceased  running,  and  the 
river  had  begun  to  go  down,  that  really  warm 
weather  could  begin,  for,  until  then,  there  was 
always  a  chill  air  from  the  water. 

But  after  that,  —  ah,  then  spring  came  in 
earnest,  with  balmy  airs  and  singing  birds, 
pussy-willows,  silver  gray,  beside  the  brooks, 
and  little  waterfalls  laughing  down  the  hills. 
Then  came  the  greening  fields,  the  trees 
throwing  deeper  shadows,  and  the  Mayflowers, 
pink  and  pearly  and  perfect,  hiding  under 
their  own  leaves  in  damp  woodland  hollows  ! 
The  children  made  many  excursions  to  gather 
these  fragrant  blooms,  and  kept  quantities  of 
them  in  the  Den   until   the  season  was  over. 


124    Our  Little   Canadian   Cousin 

It  would  be  hard,  Mrs.  Merrithew  thought,  to 
find  anything  more  lovely,  and  to  show  how 
thoroughly  she  appreciated  their  attention,  she 
made  for  each  child  a  little  Mayflower  picture 
in  water-colours.  In  Marjorie's  the  flowers 
were  in  a  large  blue  bowl,  on  a  table  covered 
with  an  old-blue  cloth  ;  for  Jackie  she  painted 
them  in  a  dainty  shallow  basket,  just  as  he  had 
brought  them  from  the  woods  ;  and  for  Dora 
there  was  a  shadowy  green  bit  of  the  woodland 
itself,  and  a  few  of  the  braver  blossoms  just 
showing  among  leaves  and   moss. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Once  more  the  lilacs  were  in  blossom  in  the 
garden  of  the  Big  Brick  House.  The  black- 
birds called  and  chuckled  in  the  lofty  branches 
of  the  elms,  and  robins  hopped  about  the 
lawns,  seemingly  with  the  express  purpose  of 
tantalizing  Kitty  Grey.  On  the  lawn,  where 
the  hammocks  hung,  a  happy  group  was 
gathered.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Merrithew  were 
there,  Marjorie  and  Dora,  Katherine  and  Jack, 
and  two  others  who  evidently  formed  the 
centre  of  attraction.  Of  these,  one  was  a  tall, 
thin  man,  with  a  frame  that  must  once  have 
been  athletic,  and  a  pathetic  stoop  in  the  broad 
shoulders.  He  sat  in  a  deep  armchair,  with 
Dora  contentedly  nestled  on  his  knee.  In  a 
hammock    near   him  sat  a  lady,  with  a  dark, 

lovely  face,  beautifully  arched  brows,  and  soft 
125 


126  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

eyes,  so  like  Dora's  that  a  stranger  might 
have  guessed   their  relationship. 

Mr.  Carman,  though  still  an  invalid,  was 
wonderfully  better,  and  both  he  and  his  wife 
were  full  of  praises  of  the  great,  beautiful 
West,  its  scenery,  its  climate,  and  its  possi- 
bilities. 

"  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion,"  Mr. 
Carman  said,  after  an  enthusiastic  description 
of  a  sunset  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  "  that  it 
is  no  wonder  we  Canadians  are  proud  of  our 
country." 

"  Then  you  and  Aunt  Denise  shall  be  £  Sons 
and  Daughters/  "  cried  Jackie,  c<  and  you  can 
read  a  paper  about  the  West  at  our  very  next 
meeting.     That  will  be  fine  !  " 

And  Uncle  Archie  and  Aunt  Denise  were 
accepted  then  and  there  as  members  of  the 
S.  A.  D.  O.  C. 

The  travellers  had  only  arrived  the  day 
before,  so  there  was  still  much  to  ask  and  tell ; 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   127 

but  Dora  and  her  parents  had  already  had  a 
long  talk  as  to  plans  and  prospects,  and  the 
little  girl  was  radiant  with  delight  over  the 
arrangements  that  were  decided  upon.  Mar- 
jorie,  who  could  not  help  being  a  little  cast 
down  at  the  prospect  of  a  separation  from  her 
cousin,  wondered  that  Dora  did  not  seem  to 
mind  at  all.  But  when,  by  and  by,  they 
strolled  off  together  to  the  grape-arbour  for  a 
talk,  she  understood  the  reason  of  this  cheer- 
fulness. 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  all  about  our  plans/' 
Dora  began,  as  soon  as  they  were  seated  in 
their  favourite  nook.  "  You  see,  mother  says 
that  dear  father,  though  he  is  certainly  better, 
won't  be  able  to  work  for  a  long,  long  time. 
Next  winter  they  will  probably  go  to  Barba- 
does,  where  some  friends  of  mother's  are 
living ;  and  if  they  do,  I  am  to  stay  with  you 
all  winter  again,  —  if  you  will  have  me,  Mar- 
jorie  !     Your  mother  says  she  will !  " 


128  Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin 

"  Have  you  !  "  Marjorie  exclaimed.  "  Oh, 
but  I  am  glad  !  I  don't  know  what  I  will  do 
without  you  all  summer,  but  it  is  fine  to  know 
that  at  least  we  will  have  the  winter  together." 

Then  Dora  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter, 
and  clapped  her  hands  over  the  news  that  she 
had  to  tell. 

"  Oh,  I've  got  the  best  to  tell  you  yet/'  she 
said.  "  Father  and  mother  have  quite  decided 
to  stay  here,  in  Fredericton,  all  summer ! 
They  want  to  rent  a  furnished  house,  just  as 
close  to  this  one  as  they  possibly  can ;  and 
then  we  will  be  together  almost  every  minute, 
just  as  we  are  now.      Wont  it  be  lovely  ?  " 

Marjorie  sat  quiet  for  a  minute,  and  thought 
it  over  with  shining  eyes.  Then  she  gave 
Dora  a  regular  <c  bear-hug,"  and  cried  : 

"  I  feel  just  like  Jackie  does  when  he  dances 
a  war-dance  !  I  was  going  to  say  that  it  was 
too  good  to  be  true,  but  mother  says  she 
doesn't  like  that  saying,  for  there  is  nothing 


Our  Little  Canadian  Cousin   129 

too  good  to  come  true  sometime,  if  it  isn't 
already.  Come  and  tell  Jack  and  Aunt 
Kathie,  quick  !  They  will  be  almost  as  glad 
as  I  am  !  " 

So  these  little  Canadian  Cousins  went  hand 
in  hand  down  the  garden-path,  full  of  happy 
thoughts  of  the  long  bright  summer  days  that 
spread  before  them. 


THE    END. 


THE  LITTLE  COUSIN  SERIES 

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_       _ .    _    _  .  .  Our  Little  Russian  Cousin 

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Our  Little  Siamese  Cousin 


Our  Little  French  Cousin 

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Our  Little  German  Cousin 


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Our  Little  Swedish  Cousin 
Our  Little  Hawaiian  Cousin  gy  Claire  M.  Coburn 

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Our  Little  Indian  Cousin 


Our  Little  Turkish  Cousin 


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Findelkind.     By  Ouida. 

Fairy  of  the  Rhone,  The.    By  A.  Comyns  Carr. 

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Helena's  Wonderworld.     By  Frances  Hodges  White. 

Jerry's  Reward.     By  Evelyn  Snead  Barnett. 

La  Belle  Nivernaise.    By  Alphonse  Daudet. 

Little  King  Davie.     By  Nellie  Hellis. 

Little  Peterkin  Vandike.     By  Charles  Stuart  Pratt. 

Little  Professor,  The.     By  Ida  Horton  Cash. 

Peggy's  Trial.     By  Mary  Knight  Potter. 

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The  Little  Colonel.       (Trade  Mark.) 

The  scene  of  this  story  is  laid  in  Kentucky.  Its  hero- 
ine is  a  small  girl,  who  is  known  as  the  Little  Colonel, 
on  account  of  her  fancied  resemblance  to  an  old-school 
Southern  gentleman,  whose  fine  estate  and  old  family 
are  famous  in  the  region. 

The  Giant  Scissors. 

This  is  the  story  of  Joyce  and  of  her  adventures 
in  France.  Joyce  is  a  great  friend  of  the  Little  Colonel, 
and  in  later  volumes  shares  with  her  the  delightful  ex- 
periences of  the  "  House  Party  "  and  the  "  Holidays." 

Two  Little  Knights  of  Kentucky. 

Who  Were  the  Little  Colonel's  Neighbors. 

In  this  volume  the  Little  Colonel  returns  to  us  like  an 
old  friend,  but  with  added  grace  and  charm.  She  is 
not,  however,  the  central  figure  of  the  story,  that  place 
being  taken  by  the  "  two  little  knights." 

Mildred's  Inheritance. 

A  delightful  little  story  of  a  lonely  English  girl  who 
comes  to  America  and  is  befriended  by  a  sympathetic 
American  family  who  are  attracted  by  her  beautiful 
speaking  voice.  By  means  of  this  one  gift  she  is  en- 
abled to  help  a  school-girl  who  has  temporarily  lost  the 
use  of  her  eyes,  and  thus  finally  her  life  becomes  a  busy 
happy  one. 


L.  C.  PAGE  AND  COMPANY'S 


By  ANNIE  FELLOWS  JOHNSTON  {Continued) 

Cicely  and  Other  Stories  for  Girls. 

The  readers  of  Mrs.  Johnston's  charming  juvenile» 
will  be  glad  to  learn  of  the  issue  of  this  volume  for 
young  people. 

Aunt  'Liza's  Hero  and  Other  Stories. 

A  collection  of  six  bright  little  stories,  which  will 
appeal  to  all  boys  and  most  girls. 

Big  Brother. 

A  story  of  two  boys.  The  devotion  and  care  of 
Steven,  himself  a  small  boy,  for  his  baby  brother,  is  the 
theme  of  the  simple  tale. 

Ole  Mammy's  Torment. 

"  Ole  Mammy's  Torment"  has  been  fitly  called  "a 
classic  of  Southern  life."  It  relates  the  haps  and  mis- 
haps of  a  small  negro  lad,  and  tells  how  he  was  led  by 
love  and  kindness  to  a  knowledge  of  the  right. 

The  Story  of  Dago. 

In  this  story  Mrs.  Johnston  relates  the  story  of  Dago, 
a  pet  monkey,  owned  jointly  by  two  brothers.  Dago 
tells  his  own  story,  and  the  account  of  his  haps  and  mis- 
haps is  both  interesting  and  amusing. 

The  Quilt  That  Jack  Built. 

A  pleasant  little  story  of  a  boy's  labor  of  love,  and 
how  it  changed  the  course  of  his  life  many  years  after 
it  was  accomplished. 

Flip's  Islands  of  Providence. 

A  story  of  a  boy's  life  battle,  his  early  defeat,  and  his 
final  triumph,  well  worth  the  reading. 


4- 


COSY  CukNER  SERIES 


By  EDITH  ROBINSON 

A  Little  Puritan's  First  Christmas. 

A  Story  of  Colonial  times  in  Boston,  telling  how 
Christmas  was  invented  by  Betty  Sewall,  a  typical  child 
of  the  Puritans,  aided  by  her  brother  Sam. 

A  Little  Daughter  of  Liberty. 

The  author  introduces  this  story  as  follows : 
"  One  ride  is  memorable  in  the  early  history  of  the 
American  Revolution,  the  well-known  ride  of  Paul 
Revere.  Equally  deserving  of  commendation  is  another 
ride,  —  the  ride  of  Anthony  Severn,  —  which  was  no  less 
historic  in  its  action  or  memorable  in  its  consequences." 

A  Loyal  Little  Maid. 

A  delightful  and  interesting  story  of  Revolutionary 
days,  in  which  the  child  heroine,  Betsey  Schuyler, 
renders  important  services  to  George  Washington. 

A  Little  Puritan  Rebel. 

This  is  an  historical  tale  of  a  real  girl,  during  the 
time  when  the  gallant  Sir  Harry  Vane  was  governor  of 
Massachusetts. 

A  Little  Puritan  Pioneer. 

The  scene  of  this  story  is  laid  in  the  Puritan  settle- 
ment at  Charlestown. 

A  Little  Puritan  Bound  Girl. 

A  story  of  Boston  in  Puritan  days,  which  is  of  great 
interest  to  youthful  readers. 

A  Little  Puritan  Cavalier. 

The  story  of  a  "  Little  Puritan  Cavalier  "  who  tried 
with  all  his  boyish  enthusiasm  to  emulate  the  spirit  and 
ideals  of  the  dead  Crusaders. 

A  Puritan  Knight  Errant. 

The  story  tells  of  a  young  lad  in  Colonial  times  who 
endeavored  to  carry  out  the  high  ideals  of  the  knights 
of  olden  days. 


L.  a   PAGE   AND   COMPANY'S 


By  OUIDA  {Louise  de  la  Ramie) 

A   Dog  Of   Flanders  :  A  Christmas  Story. 
Too  well  and  favorably  known  to  require  description. 

The  Nurnberg  Stove. 

This  beautiful  story  has  never  before  been  published 
at  a  popular  price. 

By  FRANCES  MARGARET  FOX 

The  Little  Giant's  Neighbours. 

A  charming  nature  story  of  a  "  little  giant "  whose 
neighbours  were  the  creatures  of  the  field  and  garden. 

Farmer  Brown  and  the  Birds. 

A  little  story  which  teaches  children  that  the  birds 
are  man's  best  friends. 

Betty  of  Old  Mackinaw. 

A  charming  story  of  child-life,  appealing  especially  to 
the  little  readers  who  like  stories  of  "  real  people." 

Brother  Billy. 

The  story  of  Betty's  brother,  and  some  further  ad- 
ventures of  Betty  herself. 

Mother  Nature's  Little  Ones. 

Curious  little  sketches  describing  the  early  lifetime, 
or  "  childhood,"  of  the  little  creatures  out-of-doors. 

How  Christmas  Came  to  the  Mul- 
vaneys. 

A  bright,  lifelike  little  story  of  a  family  of  poor  chil- 
dren, with  an  unlimited  capacity  for  fun  and  mischief. 
The  wonderful  never-to-be  forgotten  Christmas  that 
came  to  them  is  the  climax  of  a  series  of  exciting  inci- 
dents. 


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